Inflation in Venezuela: the basic food basket increased by 46% in one year

The basic food basket in Venezuela, analyzed for a family of five, had a cost in March of 471.16 dollars, that is, it increased by 46% compared to the same month in 2021, which was worth 322.57 dollars, according to the Center for Documentation and Social Analysis of the Venezuelan Federation of Teachers (Cendas-FVM).

In addition, the basket increased in price by 3.5% compared to last February, when it cost $454.93, that is, $15.16 per day compared to 15.70 in March.

On the other hand, the average cost of a street lunch for a worker was five dollars, when the food voucher stood at $10.02 per month.

A study conducted by the World Food Programme between July and September 2019 reported that “7.9% of the Venezuelan population (2.3 million) is severely food insecure and an additional 24.4% (7 million) in moderate food insecurity.”

Last year, the Survey on Living Conditions (Encovi), conducted by the Andrés Bello Catholic University (UCAB), noted that 94.5% of Venezuelans live below the income poverty line.

Since last March, the dictatorship of Nicolás Maduro announced an increase in the minimum wage , which currently stands at just over $28 (126 bolivars) per month. That is, with the price of the current basic basket, it takes just over 15 months to eat a month.

With the new salary, Venezuelans still do not reach the figure of $1.90 a day set by the World Bank to consider the way out of extreme poverty by income range.

Last March Venezuela recorded inflation of 10.5%, which brings the year's cumulative inflation to 17.8%, reported in early April the Venezuelan Finance Observatory (OVF), an independent body composed of experts.

The increase compared to the previous month was 8.8 points, since inflation in February was 1.7%, recalled the OVF, adding that year-on-year inflation reached 251% in March, exceeding that of the previous month by 5 points, when it reached 246%.

The items that recorded the greatest increases were household equipment (105.9%), services (15.9%), communications (8.7%) and food (3.1%).

“The acceleration of inflation occurred in a context in which the exchange rate appreciated. Indeed, while in February the bolivar exchange rate against the dollar was 4.63 bolivars to the dollar, in March it reached 4.50 bolivars to the dollar, denoting a drop of 2.8%,” he said.

Venezuela's opposition party Voluntad Popular (VP), led by Leopoldo López and in which Juan Guaidó has done much of his career, said Tuesday that Venezuelans face recurring failures in basic water, electricity and domestic gas services.

“Although (Nicolás) Maduro's regime wants to show that Venezuela has settled and that nothing is happening anymore, the reality is different. Every day we Venezuelans face the recurring failures of basic services,” the training wrote on its Twitter account.

He added that, although in the Caribbean country there is a “revival” of “cultural and musical moves”, in Venezuelan homes “refrigerators remain empty because the cost of food exceeds the salary of millions of citizens.”

“Today we cannot honor our history, because there are communities in which Venezuelans spend at least 18 hours without electricity, months without domestic gas and even years without water,” said Voluntad Popular.

Despite this situation, and with more than six million Venezuelans leaving the country in recent years, the Maduro regime celebrated the return of 270 Venezuelans from Peru.

The dictatorship announced that 270 Venezuelans will return to the country from Peru with the government plan “Plan Vuelta a la Patria”, which was launched in September 2018, to facilitate the return of migrants who were victims of xenophobia in receiving countries.

The Foreign Ministry explained in a statement released on its website that an Airbus 340-600 plane departed from the Venezuelan state company Conviasa to Peru for a “new day” of repatriation.

(With information from EFE)

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Will Popular denounced that Venezuelans suffer recurrent failures in basic water, electricity and gas services domestic