RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The year-on-year inflation rate in Ecuador accelerated to 3.38% through last May compared to the same period in 2021, when it stood at minus 1.13%, the state-run National Institute of Statistics and Censuses (INEC) reported on Monday, June 6.
According to the Consumer Price Index (CPI) of the entity, monthly inflation last May was 0.56%, slightly lower than last April, which was 0.59%.
The three consumption divisions that had the most significant impact in the fifth month of the year were food and non-alcoholic beverages, as well as health and transportation, at a time when the country is making progress in its social and economic reactivation, after more than two years of the pandemic of the new coronavirus.
INEC stated that the basic family food basket, composed of 75 products, had a cost of US$735.15 last May, an increase of 0.89% compared to the previous month, while the average family income covers 107.91% of the total cost of the basket.
In May of this year, the average monthly family income of a typical household of four members was US$793.33 in Ecuador.
The Central Bank of Ecuador forecasts a 2.8% growth of the local economy for 2022, encouraged by the recovery of investment and the dynamism of household consumption.
It is a modest figure compared to that of the World Bank, which forecasts 4.3% growth, according to an upward revision published last April 7.
In the past year, the South American nation’s economy grew by 4.2%, after contracting by 7.8% in 2020 due to the impact of the pandemic.