The Research and Training Institute of the PIT-CNT trade union center, Cuesta Duarte, expressed its concern about the acceleration of inflation and the rise in food costs that were evident in the country in the third quarter of the year.
In the “inflation and prices” report issued jointly with Inefop, the institute expressed concern about the loss of purchasing power.
The document explains that “after a 2nd quarter of relative stability”, in the 3rd quarter of the year “inflation accelerated again and in September it stood at 9.95% in the annual record.
Cuesta Duarte states that this figure “is well above government projections.” But, above all, he emphasizes that it is a figure that is “above the growth recorded in labor income.” This causes “a loss in purchasing power” of wages.
In the document they underline the concern about the rise in the price of food. According to the report, this item has an interannual increase of 14%. This “affects the poorest households to a greater extent, which allocate a higher percentage of their income to the purchase of these goods.”
The rise in food prices
According to the report of the National Institute of Statistics, during September the Consumer Price Index (CPI) grew by 0.84%. In this sense, the item with the highest incidence, by clear distance, was food and non-alcoholic beverages (0.63%).
In the field of food and beverages, the increase was 2.25%, where the increase in legumes and vegetables stood out by 13.31%. This is evidenced by the increase in some products such as tomato (103%), onion (10.51%), pumpkin (18.96%), bell pepper (14.17%), among others.
Fruits also rose, by 4.35%, the same as bread and cereals, which grew by 0.75%.
