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The main foods that are part of the Nicaraguan diet have not stopped increasing in price since the beginning of the year, according to some merchants such as Cristina Villareal, who sells dairy products in a Managua market.
“For example this week, from now on cheese is expensive, eggs are also expensive, that is, prices woke up a little high,” said Villareal.
The data from the merchants coincides with that of the government’s National Development Information Institute, INIDE, which indicates that the cost of the basic basket increased by the equivalent of about 40 dollars from January to August of this year.
Franklin Guido, a merchant from the capital, affirms that this week “of 100 percent of all the products in the basic basket, about 85 percent rose” in price because his suppliers sold him more expensive food that supplies his establishment.
According to INIDE, the cost of the basic basket until August is equivalent to almost 500 dollars, according to its monthly survey. Some economists consulted by the Voice of America explain that the increase in food prices continues to be the product of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Situation that is clear to small merchants who suffer from inflation.
“Fuel has not gone down, here the increase in the product is maintained, so the issue of transportation is something that adds value to the product and we are unfortunately waiting for other increases,” explained Guido.
Despite inflation, the authorities of the state-owned Central Bank of Nicaragua are positive. They predict that at the end of the year the situation will improve and that even the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) will grow between 4 and 5 percent.
“We are in a positive year in terms of economic growth,” said the president of the Central Bank of Nicaragua, Ovidio Reyes in an interview with the official channel 4. Specialists explain that Nicaraguans need at least three minimum wages to acquire the 53 products that make up the basic basket.
