Over the past 12 months, mainly due to rising prices accommodation, food and medicine costs the value of the basic basket of seniors or retirees and pensioners doubledincreased by 100.6%: It is already worth $ 151,478. In October 2021 it amounted to $ 75,505 according to the calculations of the Ombudsman for the elderly of the city of Buenos Aires.
Compared to the previous measurement – $ 97,238 at the end of March 2022 – it became 55.78% more expensive.
“The new data from the Basic Pensioners’ Basket ratify the precarious situation in which the sector is sinking more and more. This is a basic basket of $ 151,478 in a context where 6,000,000 retirees earn a minimum of $ 43,000 and the rest receive an average salary of $ 65,000. While the Universal Pension for Older Adults (PUAM) is $ 34,642 and the non-contributory pensions are $ 30,347, ”says Eugenio Semino, an ombudsman for the elderly.
As of September 2021, the average amount of pensions and pensions was $ 39,603 and 12 months later it was $ 66,433 – an increase of 67.8% when average inflation for that month is estimated to exceed 80%.
If the $ 7,000 bonus is included, the $ 50,000 minimum deposit is only one third of the cart value. Furthermore, this income remains unchanged in October and November, while in those 2 months inflation can reach over 12%.
Secondly, over 85% of retirees and pensioners earn wages below the value of the basket.
“Attempting to mitigate the problem by announcing bonuses that are like coins thrown at a starving city is not only futile but also counterproductive. They are patches that highlight the hole they want to hide, ”says Semino. And he adds: “In a context where more than three minimum pensions are needed to cover a basic basket, the announcement of a $ 7,000 bonus is offensive. It is not that retirees continue to feel bad, it is that they are getting worse and worse and there is no prospect of the situation being reversed ”.
Semino states that “the compensatory bond policy must end. Pensions must be effectively recomposed, with increases incorporated in the credit, applied proportionally to the entire scale. There is no other way out. ”The elements that make up this basket for seniors are food, hygiene and cleaning products, medicines and pharmacy supplies, taxes and services, transportation, clothing, housing and recreational expenses.
Of the $ 151,478 worth of the basket, housing costs account for nearly a third ($ 49,374). Another nearly 20% ($ 29,912) corresponds to food and $ 25,013 to medicine and pharmacy supplies.
Source: Clarin
