From the hit of price of meat and fruitand after a 7.75% rise in January, the prices of basic foodstuffs skyrocketed in February: increased by 9.29% against an average inflation of 6%In the city of Buenos Aires.
THE homeless line for a typical family it was close to $100,000: it reached $98,186.Thus, in the first 2 months of this year alone, the basic basket of poverty in Buenos Aires — equivalent to the inflation of the poorest sectors — increased by 17.8%.
Due to the incidence of the City of Buenos Aires, it is assumed that the national price indices and basket values - which INDEC will release next week – will approach these percentages.
Meanwhile, after rising 6.78% in January, the basket of poverty It had an increase of 7.19% in February with the cost going from $163,339 in January to $175,080 in February, excluding rent, according to data from the Statistical and Census Directorate of the City of Buenos Aires.
If you add a modest rent, in order not to be poor, a typical family (married couple and 2 minor children) she needed more than $250,000 to not be considered poor..
With these values, the poverty line increased by 108.7% in 12 months (from $47,048 to $98,186) and the poverty line by 105.4% (from $85,259 to $175,080).
The 9.29% increase in basic food prices marks a strong acceleration. In November it was 3.8%. In December of 5.1%. In January 7.75% and in February 9.29%. And it is expected that the March measurement will also show high percentages because, among other things, the price increases of fruit and vegetables continued, aggravated by the drought, dairy products and soft drinks. Today the price of lettuce was around $100 a kilo.
As a result, rising prices have hit low-income families hardest, who devote 100% of their meager income to food.
These values explain why homelessness continues to rise because, although there are higher levels of employment, precarious jobs are concentrated in the informal sectors, with lower incomes and also because the wage increases of regular workers have been lower than inflation. .
According to the Buenos Aires Directorate, in the fourth quarter of 2022, “the total median household income is $218,209, which represents an increase of 75.6% compared to the same period of the previous year, almost 14 points below that corresponding to the Inflation Index ”.
Meanwhile, “household household income per capita averages $112,361, 71.4 percent higher than it was in the same quarter of 2021.” And “the income of the employed population averages $139,706, marking an interannual growth of 73.8 percent.”
In turn, to pay for the expenses of an intermediate sector, the income would have to exceed $269,055.56, not counting any rent. If so, they should top $350,000.
In February, The main impulses in Food came from Meat and derivatives (15.2%), followed by Fruit (+11.3%), Milk, dairy products (6.3%) and Bread and cereals (5.7% ).
For its part, in the 12 months, three-digit increases prevailed: Bread and cereals recorded an increase of 110.5%, Fish 111.3%, Milk, dairy products and eggs 107.8%, Oils, butter and other fats 132.9%, fruit 141.0%, vegetables, tubers and legumes 140.4%, soft drinks 105.7% and other foods 105.6%.
In the city of Buenos Aires, poverty has reached 17.6% of families (236,000) and 23% of the population. The poor are 707,000, of which 254,000 are indigent (8.3%), according to the third quarter report of the Statistics and Census Directorate of the CABA
Source: Clarin
