Due to the skyrocketing
price of meat and fruit
, and after a 7.75% rise in January, in February, the prices of basic foods went "to the clouds":
they increased 9.29% versus an average inflation of 6%
, in the City of Buenos Aires.
The
indigence line
for a typical family was around $100,000: it reached
$98,186.
Thus, in just the first 2 months of this year, the basic basket of indigence in Buenos Aires -- equivalent to the inflation of the poorest sectors --
rose 17.8%.
Due to the incidence of the City of Buenos Aires, it is discounted that the national price indices and the values of the baskets - that INDEC will disseminate next week - will be close to these percentages.
Meanwhile, after rising 6.78% in January, the
poverty basket
rose 7.19% in February with a cost that went from $163,339 in January to $175,080 in February, not including rent, from according to data from the Directorate of Statistics and Censuses of the City of Buenos Aires.
If a modest rent is added, in order not to be poor, a typical family (married couple and 2 minor children)
needed more than $250,000 to not be considered poor.
.
With these values, the indigence 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 the prices of basic foods 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 increases in the prices of fruits and vegetables continued, aggravated by the drought, in dairy products and soft drinks.
Today the price of lettuce was around $100 a kilo.
Consequently, the rise in prices hit low-income families the hardest, who allocate 100% of their meager income to food.
These values explain why indigence continues to grow
because, although there were higher levels of employment, precarious jobs are concentrated in the informal sectors, with lower incomes, and also because wage increases for formal workers were lower than inflation.
.
According to the Buenos Aires Directorate, in the fourth quarter of 2022, "the average total family income is $218,209, which represents a 75.6% increase compared to the same period of the previous year, almost 14 points below that corresponding to the Index of inflation”.
Meanwhile, "the family per capita income of households averages $112,361, 71.4% above that registered in the same quarter of 2021."
And "the income of the salaried population reaches an average of $139,706, marking an interannual growth of 73.8%."
In turn, to pay for the expenses of a middle sector, income should exceed $269,055.56, not counting eventual rent.
In that case, they should exceed $350,000.
In February,
the main impulses in Food came from Meat and derivatives (15.2%), followed by Fruits (+11.3%), Milk, dairy products (6.3%) and Bread and cereals (5.7% ).
For its part, in 12 months, triple-digit increases prevailed: Bread and cereals registered an increase of 110.5%, Fish 111.3%, Milk, dairy products and eggs 107.8%, Oils, butter and other fats 132.9%, Fruits 141.0%, Vegetables, tubers and legumes 140.4, non-alcoholic beverages 105.7% and Other foods 105.6%.
In the city of Buenos Aires, poverty reached 17.6% of households (236,000) and 23% of the population.
There are 707,000 poor people, of which 254,000 are indigent (8.3%), according to the report for the third quarter of the Directorate of Statistics and Censuses of the CABA
