The variation in the cost of living of Colombians in July reached double digits and stood at 10.21 percent, an inflation that has not been seen for 22 years, as recently revealed by Juan Daniel Oviedo, director of the Administrative Department National Statistics (Dane), who also pointed out that the Consumer Price Index (CPI) only for the month of July of this year was 0.81 percent.
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Inflation for the seventh month of this year is 6.47 percentage points higher than that observed in the same month last year when it stood at 3.47 percent.
Food and non-alcoholic beverages, as well as public services were the two divisions that contributed the most to the variation in the cost of living for Colombians in July with 3 and 1.49 percentage points. However, the Clothing and footwear division was the one that registered the greatest monthly variation with 3.6 percent.
According to the statistical entity, Food and non-alcoholic beverages registered an annual variation of 24.61 percent, this being the largest annual variation. In that same month, the largest price increases were recorded in the cassava subclasses for home consumption (141.72 percent), plantains (75.6 percent), and onions (64.21 percent).
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According to Oviedo, the cities with the highest annual variation in the cost of living were Cúcuta, Santa Marta and Valledupar with about 14.1; 13.72 and 13.11 percent, respectively, while at the other extreme were Bogotá, with 9.21 percent, Pasto with 9.84, and Manizales with 9.87 percent.
For its part, Neiva was the city in the country that presented the highest monthly variation in the cost of living for its inhabitants with 1.6 percent, almost double the national average of 0.81 percent.
Sincelejo and Riohacha also had a higher cost of living in the seventh month of the year, since the CPI for these two cities was 1.53 and 1.48 percent, respectively.
In turn, Bogotá, Ibagué and Bucaramanga were, in their order, the regions with the lowest variation in the cost of living in July with 0.61; 0.75 and 0.77 percent, according to the Dane.
Low-income and vulnerable people are the most affected by high inflation, because according to what was revealed by the official statistical entity, the annual variation in the cost of living of this population segment was 11.74 percent, which is 1.53 percentage points higher than the national average.
For those who are part of the so-called middle class, that inflation was 10.35 percent, similar to the national average of 10.21 percent, while for those with high incomes it was 8.75 percent, which is 1, 46 percentage points below the figure for the entire country.
Economy and business