According to the Ministry of Development, Industry and Commerce (Mific), to guarantee the 53 products of the basic basket, a Nicaraguan needs to guarantee about 3,755.53 cordobas per week, a figure that exceeds 100 dollars. While the minimum wage is around C$4,723.95 monthly cordobas.
The institution reported that the products that increased in price are: red beans at 25.60 cordobas per pound, dry cheese at 50.20 cordobas per pound, yellow onion at 27.30 cordobas per pound, chiltoma at 42.50 cordobas per pound, cabbage at 10.20 cordobas per pound, potatoes at 28 cordobas a pound and bananas at 8.43 cordobas a pound.
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The price of the food basket at the beginning of the year was 16,529.99 cordobas and currently exceeds 17 thousand cordobas. The products that increased the most in price were food, followed by household products and cooking gas, which has been frozen for 18 weeks. The 10-pound tank is priced at 180 cordobas, the 25-pound tank is priced at 436 cordobas, and the 100-pound tank is priced at 2,000 cordobas.
As for the products that are maintained, there are “rice 70/30 at 16 cordobas per pound, rice 80/20 at 16.90 cordobas per pound, sulphited sugar at 13.20 cordobas per pound, bulk oil at 73.20 cordobas per liter, white corn in grain at 10.70 cordobas a pound, pork leg at 85 cordobas a pound, whole chicken at 43.40 a pound, chicken thigh at 48 cordobas a pound, leg with thigh at 37.30 a pound, chicken leg at 45.30 cordobas a pound, breast at 63.40 cordobas a pound, beef posta at 116 cordobas a pound, large egg at 132.50 cordobas a box, medium egg at 124.50 cordobas a box, tomato at 21.10 cordobas a pound, simple artisan bread at 24.30 cordobas a pound, “explained the report presented by the Director of Inspection and Verification of Diprodec, Francis Gadea.
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The basic basket is classified into three categories: food, which includes 23 products; household and clothing uses, with 15 products each. The greatest weight of the costs of the basic food basket is found in the food section that includes basic grains, meats, dairy products and eggs, cereals and perishables. From January to April, these increased by 642.35 cordobas.
With this continuous increase in the basic basket, the 7% increase in minimum wages approved by the National Minimum Wage Commission and which began to be applied on March 1 to workers in nine economic sectors is exceeded.
In addition, workers with basic salaries between 4,723.95 and 10,571.78 cordobas will have difficulty acquiring the 23 food products considered essential. The dimension of the blow to consumers’ pockets becomes clearer in the year-on-year comparison. In April 2021, the budget that Nicaraguans invested to buy the 53 products of the basic basket was 14,939.41 cordobas.
