If the average prices that some 32 basic consumer products had in 2019 are taken, paying for those same products in 2022 represents 35% more, this being a consequence of the inflation that is being driven by external factors such as the pandemic of COVID-19 and the war between Russia and Ukraine.
By May 2019, with RD$3,110.33 on average, the unit quantities of 32 high-consumption items were purchased from a random list prepared by Diario Libre of products included in the weekly price monitoring in supermarkets published by Pro Consumidor and official fuel reports. .
Those same products in quantity and brand would be purchased last month with 4,186.95 on average, for an increase of 35% compared to the pre-pandemic 2019. If that calculation is made with last year, the increase is 15.5%.
Many consumers buy these products in different quantities with their same salaries in 2019. This remuneration in economics can be seen in two ways: the salary nominal and the salary real.
The nominal is what the worker receives for providing their service in a period of time, for example, the monthly salary. The salary The real, on the other hand, is what the nominal represents in relation to prices, the inflation. That is, the purchasing power of your payment each month.
In March of this year, the economist José Luis de Ramón analyzed at an event of the Association of Industries of the Dominican Republic that since December 2019 the salary nominal rose 5.5% and the real fell 7.8%.
He estimated that, in 2020, the salary nominal average lost 4.2% and the real lost 9.5%. In 2021, with an increase in salaries produced, the salary nominal average rose 10.1%, but the inflation left the salary real equal to 92.1% of the salary December 2019 actual.
For example, a salary nominal value of RD$28,503 in December 2021 had a real value in terms of purchasing power of RD$25,166.
The Central Bank of the Dominican Republic reports that the inflation (widespread and sustained increase in the prices of goods and services) was 0.49 last May compared to April, “the lowest inflation monthly from October 2021”.
The inflation accumulated in the period January-May of this 2022 stands at 4.29%, while the inflation interannual, measured from May 2021 to May 2022, was 9.47%, lower than the 9.64% registered the previous month.
