The increase in the prices of raw materials and other products, as a result of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and in turn its effect on maritime transport, caused the increase in the cost of the family basket to accelerate during the last year when compared to previous periods.
Several of the quintiles of the family basket, between September of last year and the same month of 2021, experienced increases in their price of more than 62% compared to those registered on the same date of 2019 and 2020, according to data from the Central Bank of the Dominican Republic (BCRD).
Quintiles one (the lowest) and five (the most expensive) were those that had a faster increase in their cost between September of last year and the same month of 2021, both with 66%, when compared to the amount that went up two years earlier.
“The price crisis” caused that, in the case of the cheapest quintile of the family basket, it became more expensive by RD $ 1,763.71 during the last year, going from RD $ 21,309.09 to RD $ 23,072.80.
Between September 2019 and the same month of 2020, the increase in the cost of quintile one was RD $ 1,162.47, which implies that the increase this year is higher by RD $ 601.24. The fifth quintile, after having increased RD $ 2,681.93 between September 2019 and the same month of 2020, became more expensive RD $ 4,067.49 in the same period last year. From September of last year to September 2021, the cost of this quintile went from RD $ 60,508.41 to RD $ 64,575.90.
The price increase in the international markets of raw materials such as corn, soybeans, wheat, sorghum (used for the production of other foods), oil, among others, was influencing the cost in the first months of the year. of the family basket in the country, according to the BCRD.
In addition to oil, the price of sorghum, soybeans, and corn rose 98%, 61.7%, and 44.1%, respectively, during the last year. As for wheat, the increase was 23.5% during the last 12 months, a situation that has been beginning in the products of the basic basket, the bank explained last March.
Likewise, the inflationary period accelerated the rise in prices of the national basket. Measure from September 2020 to the same month of 2021, this became more expensive by RD $ 2,808.94, an amount higher than the RD $ 1,739.48 registered in the same period of 2019 and 2020.
From September of last year to the same month of 2021, the national family basket went from RD $ 36,300.01 to RD $ 39,108.95.
Data from the monetary and financial institution indicate that interannual inflation, during the referred period, was 7.74%.
