A family needed $692.32 in March to cover basic food expenses in Venezuela, according to the NGO Documentation and Analysis Center of the Venezuelan Federation of Teachers (Cendas-FVM), which this Friday released its estimate of the food basket.
According to the organization, which estimates the amount based on a family of five members, the cost of the basic basket in dollars registered an increase of 7.24% compared to the previous month, when it was calculated at 645.6 dollars.
In addition, he highlighted the purchasing power gap in the country, when considering the difference between the cost of the family basket and the minimum wage, frozen since 2022 at 130 bolivars per month, an amount equivalent today to about 27 cents on the dollar according to the official exchange rate.
In this sense, the NGO highlighted that in March a Venezuelan minimum wage covered just 0.04% of the cost of the basic family basket, for which more than 2,400 monthly minimum wages are required or just over 4.6 bonuses of $150 that the Government pays each month to State employees.
In recent years, the Executive has focused its salary policy on the payment of two bonuses for public workers that have no impact on labor benefits and that total 190 dollars: one of 40 dollars for food and another of 150 dollars, called “economic war income”, both deposited in bolivars at the official rate of the day.
Recently, the Central Bank of Venezuela (BCV) indicated on its website that prices increased by 13.1% in March, while in February inflation was 14.6% and in January 32.6%.
Union organizations and workers have marched in recent weeks in Caracas to demand wage increases and labor improvements in the face of the country’s economic crisis.
The president in charge, Delcy Rodríguez, announced last week that she will make a “responsible” increase, without specifying the amount or whether it is an increase in the minimum wage or the bonus for public workers.
