Worker problems: the corrientazo went up

Lunch is increasingly expensive for workers in Colombia. At least that suggests the drastic increase in the price of the popular ordinary lunch or “corrientazo”, the alternative of those who do not have the time or culinary skill to prepare the most important meal of the day.

According to figures from the National Administrative Department of Statistics (Dane), the price of corrientazo increased by 14.7% in the last twelve months and represented 10% of total inflation in March 2022. Right now it's almost impossible to get one of these lunches for less than ten thousand pesos — two and a half dollars.

In addition, although corrientazos were characterized by serving generous portions, mainly carbohydrates and soups, they are now also reduced in the face of rising prices in products such as cassava (which increased by 85.14%), potatoes (110.22%), rice (0.54 per cent) and bananas (82.57%).

According to Juan Daniel Oviedo, director of Dane, this increase in the price of the corrientazo exceeded the historical record of increase that had occurred in February 2017. In addition, he warned that this popular lunch is the product that is most affecting the inflation figure, which stood at 1% in March and reached 8.53% annually.

Specifically, food outside the home contributed 13 basic points to the behavior of inflation. 10% was contributed by the popular corrientazo, while the remaining three points correspond to fast foods, such as arepas, burgers and empanadas.

According to Oviedo, the increase in the price of toilet and electricity services also impact companies and this cost is borne by the final consumer of the product, who in this case is a very hungry diner with little money.

According to the interview Oviedo gave to Blu Radio, the rise in food prices has two origins. One of them is the rise in the costs of agricultural production, which is affected by external factors such as Russia's invasion of Ukraine — one of the world's largest exporters of fertilizers — and the rise in the price of commodities, such as corn and soy.

The second factor has to do with the highly unstable weather conditions of recent months. In addition to the floods and landslides that winter has caused in the country, fruit producers have faced losses in their crops, especially citrus fruits, which require temperate environments to ripen.

On the first factor, there is some agency capacity and the national government has already taken action, since a decree was announced to reduce tariffs on agricultural inputs and reduce the impact of increases on the final consumer.

However, Oviedo warned that the results of these measures will not be immediate: the food supply generated after this measure would be reflected in prices in the middle of the year, when crops sprout, so that the price could continue to rise during April and May.

For March, the consumer price index (CPI) had a variation of 1%, an indicator that was close to double that of the same month in 2021, when it stood at 0.51%. In addition, inflation so far this year, that is, at the cut of the first quarter, stood at 4.36 per cent, compared to an indicator of 1.56 per cent a year ago, that is, almost three times.

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