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“The price of food in April is the reflection of a pandemic economy”, Dane director Juan Daniel Oviedo said, revealing that in the fourth month of the year, the first month in which Colombians were in total isolation all the time, inflation for the month was 0.16 percent, while the of foods –individually– was 2.04 percent.
Within the heading of food and non-alcoholic beverages, which was what people ran to buy to stock up on confinement, thus pressing the price of food, The greatest increases were found in plantain (14.41%), onion (12.60%) and dried legumes (11.63%).
In contrast, the largest price decreases were reported in the subclasses: tomato (-8.69%), condiments and culinary herbs (-6.83%) and fresh vegetables and legumes (-3.20%).
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Oviedo highlighted that in April, the Colombian population acquired rice, eggs, lentils, meat and fish, precisely the combat food when households are afraid of the economic crisis caused by a situation such as that caused by the coronavirus.
Rice, eggs, bananas, lentils, meat and fish account for two-thirds of the 32 basis points that contributed to the final 16 points of inflation in
April
“Rice, eggs, bananas, lentils, meat and fish are the ones that explain two thirds of the 32 basic points that contributed to the final 16 points of inflation in April,” said Oviedo.
The health division, in the midst of the pandemic, was another of those that boosted household spending in April.
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This segment registered a monthly variation of 0.51 percent, the second largest monthly variation after food.
Medical implements had a variation in prices of 0.94 percent, while pharmaceutical and dermatological products increased by 0.77 percent and laboratory tests for individuals had a variation in prices of 0.69 percent. All of these products and services are among the needs raised by the pandemic.
By contrast, the greatest decreases were on the side of minor medical services (-0.29%) and dental services (0.00%), reflecting that people, due to confinement, did not demand this type of service that requires travel.
The results presented by the Dane yesterday indicate that inflation in the current year, that is, from January to April, is 1.83 percent, while in the same period of 2019 it was 2.12 percent. Meanwhile, annual inflation (12 months to April) was 3.51 percent, while that for the same period of the previous year was 3.25 percent.
Meanwhile, the monthly data for April (0.16%) does register a noticeable change compared to the same month in 2019, which was 0.50 percent.
To the extent that April was home food inflation, the most affected are the vulnerable classes, stressed the director of Dane.
ECONOMY AND BUSINESS
