Colombian household spending totaled $88.2 billion in July, which represents a real increase of 2.1% compared to the same month of the previous year. The current annual increase was 12.6%.
In the accumulated of the last 12 months, spending reached $888.7 billion, highlights the monthly Raddar report.
“Despite having a positive variation, it is evident that from the previous month spending began to slow down, which this month could be seen even more pronounced due to inflation that reached 2 digits,” says the report.
(Slow slowdown in household spending detected in June).
It adds that “although the expense had a variation of 16.7% in current pesos compared to the previous month, which is explained by the seasonality of the premium and vacations, it is observed that the monthly growth was lower than that registered in the same month. from previous years, which may also be a sign of a contraction in household spending”.
Raddar also draws attention to the fact that in July inflation exceeded the double-digit barrier, a figure that had not been seen in the last eight yearsthere was an important effect of the high variation in food and regulated prices, especially electricity.
(In 2021, families spent $1.7 million monthly: Dane.)
The July report says that baskets of meals outside the home and transportation and communications in the month were the ones that contributed the most to real spendingl, which could also be a reflection of the holiday season.
As a result of this, those most affected by the high cost of living are low- and middle-income householdsdecreasing more and more their purchasing power.
Another consequence brought about by this month’s high inflation is that once again the variation in the real minimum wage was negative, reflecting the loss of purchasing power of households.
(‘The impact of inflation slows spending’).
Likewise, according to Radar, with the exception of Bogotá, Pasto and Manizales, in the main cities there was evidence of a loss in purchasing powerbeing Cúcuta the most affected.
Raddar’s analysis also indicates that although credit has been a source of spending leverage in recent months, given the measures to control inflation, interest rates rose, which caused credit placement to begin to fall. ”.
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