The price increase in July in Merida was the highest in the last year at 4.25%, even well above the national average of 3.62
MERIDA, Yucatan – The inflation rate in July in the city of Merida was the highest in the last year at 4.25 percent, even well above the national average for that month of 3.62 percent, placing the Yucatan capital among the most expensive cities in the country in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The National Consumer Price Index (INPC) of the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (Inegi) revealed that from July 2019 to July of this year, the increase in prices of daily products has not diminished in the Yucatan capital.
Even in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, last July was the highest in terms of prices of products in the Yucatan’s basic basket.
Inegi reported that the products that had the greatest price increases and that registered the greatest impact due to inflation were potatoes and tubercle’s 6.61 percent, low-octane gasoline 5.64 percent, chicken 5.6 percent, high-octane gasoline 5.3 percent and beans 3.6 percent.
The federal agency noted that there are also products that were down in price, such as grapes -29.3 percent, chile serrano -29.2 percent, chayote -24.1 percent and green tomatoes -12.1 percent.
The price index for the basic basket, which includes a hundred or so products of broad popular consumption, marked a monthly increase of 1.29 percent and an annual rise of 4.42 percent.
With this, last month the city of Merida ranked 38th of 54 capitals in measures of inflation, the first five most expensive cities in the country were Hermosillo with 0.90 percent, Aguascalientes with 0.86 percent, Villahermosa with 0.83 percent, Tijuana 0.79 percent and Campeche with 0.75 percent.
At the country level, inflation maintained its upward trend during the first half of July, driven mainly by rising gasoline prices.
Jorge Cardeña Licona, president of the National Chamber of Commerce, Services and Tourism in Small Areas (Canacope), said that the prices of products in the basic basket are increasing daily, especially in the last two months of the Covid-19 contingency.
He said that this situation means that more and more people are unable to buy basic products in small shops and corner stores, as it is increasingly difficult to obtain income in the face of business closures and job shortages.
