“They don’t give you the numbers”: Venezuelans complain about price increases

Both buyers and sellers speak of “depravity” when setting prices for products, goods and services in Venezuela. Not even de facto dollarization is a sufficient antidote to inflation, which is still on the rise.

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Joel, a 23-year-old Venezuelan, pedals his three-wheeled bicycle with a wooden box through the streets of northern Maracaibo, shouting a loud message on his megaphone: “We buy bad air, old batteries!”

His transactions for the day are not progressing well: inside his drawer, only five cans of an energy drink and a couple of pot lids are visible. “Things are heavy,” she says. His finances are not going through the best of times for him.

The young man, sheltered from the sun under the hood of a black sweater, buys second-hand aluminum objects to resell them in junkyards in the industrial zone, on the outskirts of his city, at 70 cents (3 bolívares) per kilo.

He offers up to $10 for a damaged or unused air conditioner, for example. Your business is to multiply its value later. It is a complex task in a country that boasts the crown of the highest inflation in the world: according to figures from the Central Bank, the average rise in prices was 340.4% in the last 12 months.

That institution, related to the government of President Nicolás Maduro, made official in December the end of a four-year hyperinflationary cycle. Citizens like Joel doubt the supposed recovery of an economy that has become de facto dollarized, which depends more on the value of foreign currency than on the local currency.

“I haven’t felt anything (improved). The dollar has not risen and everything is normalized right now, but this (her business) is down to luck, ”she says to the voice of america moments before resuming his pedaling, still 25 kilometers away from his home.

II Wages without bellows

The increase in prices and the “destruction” of wages in Venezuela have not stopped despite the formal end of hyperinflation or the moderate stability of the price of the dollar in the country, warns economist Luis Crespo.

Although the price of the US currency has remained relatively unchanged in recent months (around 4.2 or 4.3 bolívares per unit), the national crisis continues to bite into the pockets of ordinary people, he says.

The government recently announced an increase in the monthly minimum wage from seven bolívares ($1.6) to 126 bolívares ($30) effective March 15.

The figure does not exceed the World Bank’s “extreme poverty threshold” criterion, that is, a minimum daily income of 1.9 dollars, Crespo points out.

Only the average food basket of Venezuelans is around 448 dollars, according to studies by the Center for Documentation and Social Analysis of the Venezuelan Federation of Teachers (Cendas-FVM). This reality has led to more and more private companies agreeing to pay their employees in dollars.

The consulting firm Anova and the opposition Venezuelan Finance Observatory (OVF) revealed at the beginning of the year that 71% of salaries in private companies in Caracas are paid in foreign currency. Twelve months earlier, that variable was 62%.

Average earnings in that sector reach $89 a month, according to the observatory. “Venezuelans have tried to generate income in dollars to compensate for the destruction of their living standards,” Crespo told the VOAfor his part.

Accumulated inflation during the first two months of 2022 was 9.9%, in single digits, an unusual figure in the last five years in Venezuela, according to the OVF.

The positive macroeconomic figures or at least the recession of signs of crisis, such as hyperinflation, do not translate for now into improvements in the economic outlook for ordinary citizens in Venezuela, he points out.

And there is another component that makes the equation worse, he admits: speculation.

III “Deprave” and “depravity”

The evolution of the prices of goods, services and products in contemporary Venezuela continues to be “a deprave” for Ángel Fernández, merchant and owner of a restaurant in Maracaibo.

The 48-year-old rants about the local economy after eating several pastelitos (fried dough stuffed with cheese), sitting on a raised bench in front of the counter of a fast food outlet in the north of his city.

“Of course things continue to increase. Everything is like that, especially the food, ”she comments to the VOA. rummage among the chat on your mobile phone to quote an estimate just sent to you by one of your suppliers.

“They offered me a basket of avocados for $120. 15 days ago, it was 20. I don’t think things are getting any better. It is more difficult”, he adds, worried that the crisis in Ukraine could push the prices of everything up even more.

Wilson Soto, one of the cupcake sales workers, joins the conversation by telling how much it cost him to buy school supplies for his children.

“This is depravity. You can’t buy a ream of white sheets at a stationery store, instead we buy two or three sheets,” he says, frustrated.

“They don’t give you the numbers,” says the 41-year-old man. The locals thus refer to the moment when the family budget falls short, it is not enough.

Wilson feels grateful to God, however. In his home, he specifies, his family eats three times a day. “Enough to eat, I can’t complain.”

IV They get gray hair

Marcial Subero, a 66-year-old Venezuelan, is convinced that his country’s economy is better these days than it was a couple of years ago. He is no longer “so hostile, nor so sacrificial” to get food and hygiene products, he argues.

A decade ago, there was a chronic shortage in Venezuela of certain basic foods or deodorants and diapers. They are found today in any store, even imported ones, but their prices rise if the official dollar rate increases.

The man earns in Caracas, the capital, an average of 150 dollars per month thanks to three jobs: he is a parking lot employee, he washes vehicles by the piece and works as a home mechanic. Yet he is insufficient for her.

“Today, you can’t have what you used to have. Before, one could buy a car, a motorcycle. One, the poor man, cannot have one of those things. My car has been standing for three years, because I have no way to repair it”, he confided to the VOA.

Carmen Montiel, a receptionist at an office in eastern Caracas, differs from Marcial. She does not notice any improvement in her country. “Things are worse,” she says.

Her husband works two jobs, but they can’t get enough money except for food, some unforeseen event at home or a health emergency.

“If you buy food, you can’t buy other things, like pants or (hair) dye. Look how my hair is! “, The 52-year-old woman shouts, showing the gray hair that extends to the middle of her hair.

A few days ago, she says, she and her partner had to “walk and walk” in Caracas to get the cheapest replacement for a pipe that broke down in their house.

His diet, even, has already undergone changes as the money is reaching less and less. “Before we bought a kilo of steak (meat) for 15 days. Now, we can only take half a kilo and surrender it, “she concludes, resigned.

V The ups and downs

Sitting on a tiny curb outside his grocery store, 30-year-old Ronny is engrossed in a video he’s watching on his cell phone. On this Wednesday morning there is not as much influx of customers as I would expect.

The young man complains about the prices that are seen, not only in his business. “Upload everything, but in dollars. Even the tires are more expensive. Some rubber bands cost you 30 or 35 dollars before and now they don’t go below 60, 65. The dollar remains stable, but things go up, ”he says, with so much disbelief that it seems to border on annoyance.

Their prices experience “ups and downs” depending on the availability of the fruit or vegetable, he explains. The kilo of tomato fell from two to one dollar (about 5 bolívares), while other fruits, such as bananas or bananas, rose by 3 dollars per kilo.

There are customers who resent those price roller coasters. “It hits them (affects them). It depends on each person’s pocket”, he thinks, shrugging his shoulders.

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