Inflation, measured through the variation of the Consumer Price Index, in this case at the national level in the last 12 months, reached 8.62% at the end of April, a record figure according to the National Institute of Statistics and Informatics ( INEI), at least in the last 10 years.
Inflation in April was 1.13%, lower than the 1.50% reported in March, this is due to several factors, on the one hand, the measures implemented by the Central Reserve Bank (BCR) that has been raising its reference rate in recent months to deal with rising prices, among other monetary measures.
On the other hand, the INEI collects information on the prices of the last days of each month, from markets, warehouses and among other points, in more than 8,200 establishments and not necessarily from the first days, in which it reported a rise in prices. of food due to the strike of carriers, agriculture and others.
Thus, for example, the price of carrots that reached S/ 10 per kilo in Lima (although some markets reported prices higher than S/ 18 per kilo, now it is sold between S/ 3.50 and S/ 4.00 in the main markets). of supplies from the interior of the country, according to data from the Ministry of Agrarian Development.
The same fact occurs in several products of the family basket whose local effect has been attenuating after the reestablishment of access to markets. On the other hand, the market expects a greater intervention by the BCR, raising the reference rate further. “Given that these (food) prices are going to remain high, inflation is going to take time to come down,” said Hugo Vega, senior economist at BBVA Research.