The Central Bank of Paraguay reported an inflation of 1.5% at the end of April, however, so far there has been no review of the minimum wage.
The variation of the Consumer Price Index (CPI) indicates that inflation at the end of the fourth month of the year was 1.5%, higher than -0.1% for the same period in 2021.
In the sum of 2022, inflation reaches 5.3%, above the 0.6% registered in the four months of 2021.
Regarding year-on-year inflation, the accumulation reached 11.8%, higher than the 10.1% in March of this year and 2.5% above what was noted in April of last year.
The April 2022 numbers are due to increases in both food and fuel goods in the basket. There were also increases in some basket services.
Regarding beef, there were price increases in different cuts. This is due to better prices in the international market, which is transferred to the domestic market.
There were also increases in bovine offal, sausages, fish meat and poultry meat. This last item is due to the rise in production costs due to the high prices of the inputs used for the preparation of balanced products. In contrast, pork had price decreases due to the greater local offer, which responds to the lower movement in exports.
Bakeries recorded price increases due to the rise in flour prices, in turn caused by the international price of wheat. The BCP details that these figures are given in a context in which the conflict between Russia and Ukraine has repercussions on world commodity markets.
Milk and cheese also suffered increases, supposedly due to increases in production costs. The prices of eggs, corn, starch and oils also rose. This is associated with the high demand of Holy Week.
The increases in fuel prices are also mentioned, such as gasoline, common diesel, additive diesel and liquefied gas for domestic use, in the last days of March, due to the international price of crude oil. Along these lines, the price of gasoil influenced an adjustment of the internal bus fare of the municipalities, which is not part of the state subsidy.
