“Market is very expensive” Y “The minimum wage is not enough for anything” are some of the most frequent expressions among Colombians to illustrate the rise of the inflation, which in April, in its annual variation, was 9.23%, but among the poorest it already exceeds 11%, by the strong increase in the price of food in the basic basket.
(The ten products that rose the most in the first four months of 2022).
This behavior, in percentage terms, shows that the cost of living among people with less income It has already exceeded the increase in the minimum wage of 2022 in Colombia, which was 10.07%, and which is 1 million pesos.
To measure how are the prices of the products most consumed by Colombians and what is their impact on the minimum wage, Briefcase visited a neighborhood store, a supermarket and a chain, where he compared food costs, which are added to other expenses such as rent and transportation, in order to establish the direct impact of the increase in the cost of living versus the minimum wage .
This was what was found:
WHERE IS IT CHEAPER TO MARKET
During the tour, a neighborhood store was visited in the Prado Veraniego sector, a D1 and a Carulla, and prices were quoted a kilo of rice, a tray of eggs, a pound of pasta, a pound of sabanera potatoes, a pound of Creole potatoes, a pound of big-headed red onions, a pound of peas, a pound of cassava, 5 pounds of pastusa potatoes , 1 pound of banana, a pound of Tahiti lemon and a tray of strawberry.
(The effect of inflation on prices of ‘corrientazo’ and empanadas).
It was found that in the neighborhood store these products cost an average of $66,500, a value that increases to $77,200 in Carulla.
In the case of D1, the purchases were $43,900, although some products and references were not found.
In the list are some of the products that have risen the most during the year, such as onion, potato, rice, cassava and plantain, which are among the 10 foods that most increased in price between January and April 2022.
According to the Consumer Price Index (CPI), which was presented by the Dane in the first week of May, onions have risen 63.39%, while potatoes moved into second place with a variation of 55.11%.
In the third position of the most expensive products in the first four months of the year is cassava for household consumption, which has registered an increase of 54.8%.
(Leases, tolls and the UVR, on the rise due to the effect of inflation).
The list of most expensive foods is completed bananas, with 40.53%; the tomato, with 35%; oranges, with 30.5%; arracacha, yams and other tubers, with 25.25%; blackberries, with 24.23%; rice, with 22.95% and fresh fruits, with 19.07%.
But not only food felt inflationary pressure, the transportation spending division has risen 7.68% between January and April, according to the most recent Dane report.
For its part, rentals rose 5.62% at the beginning of the year, which means that between inflation (9.23%), rentals (5.62%) and transportation (7.68%) Together they already exceed the historical increase in the minimum, whose effect on the cost of living has been reduced by the inflation that continues to hit the pockets of Colombians.
BRIEFCASE
