inflation on vulnerable Peruvian’s response of the Executive Power has not been the most effective. This first diagnosis of the recent round table organized by El Comercio and APOYO Consultoría led to the determination of the need to review public policies aimed at this population.
Gianfranco Castagnola, executive president of APOYO Consultoría and moderator of the table, commented that the rise in almost two years has led to a considerable increase in the value of the basic food basket.
“The rise in food has caused the cost of the basic family food basket on average to go from S/760 in December 2020 to S/905 today. This in a context where as a result of the country’s economic situation it is difficult for wages to keep up with this increase,” he said.
During his participation in the round table Escobal also indicated that if inflation during 2021 had been between 1% and 3% the poverty rate would have been two points lower.
“This is not a crisis of lack of food, but a crisis of access. This is central when evaluating how public policies are aligned.
What we have is that this greater ‘shock’ of costs hits vulnerable households with a different face the formal sector that is now informal women who lost their jobs among others” , he maintained.
“This greater ‘shock’ of costs hits vulnerable households with a new face: the formal sector that is now informal or women who have lost their jobs.”
Paola Bustamante, director of Videnza, recalls that the central action of the Government in this scenario has been the delivery of bonds. However, this has been untimely.
“There is a long time between the announcement of the bonus the decision to pay it, the delivery, and the opportunity for consumption. People have problems accessing resources today but the bonus has been arriving between 8 and 10 months later” she stressed.
“We must bear in mind that we are not facing a crisis of supply but of access. Families need to have resources.”
A second action was aimed at common pots. However, on this front he highlighted adverse situations since most of them are not formalized. “In light of this, Qali Warma handed out baskets to the children.
In the midst of a pandemic, it was necessary to do so. Today we need the children to be able to eat at school because the small basket is distributed among the whole family”, he added.
And, in order not to neglect liquidity in the rest of the household, Bustamante focused his attention on temporary employment programs in the urban area. “Communal pots, Qali Warma and temporary employees are the three lines you should sign up for,” he explained.
