The increase in Colombia’s consumer prices reached its highest level of the 21st century in August, national statistics agency DANE announced on Monday.
According to DANE, inflation last month reached 10.84%, which is the highest increase in consumer prices registered since April 1999.
The increase in prices disproportionally affected Colombia’s poorest segment of society, which saw prices go up 12.7% compared to August last year.
Consumer prices began going up in May last year, a trend that accelerated after the beginning of the war in Ukraine in February.
Consumer prices
August’s record inflation was mainly driven by a 25.57% hike in the prices of food and non-alcoholic beverages.
The prices of hotels and restaurants went up 15.75% compared to the same month last year.
Domestic appliances increased 14.75% and the cost of transport went up 10.0%, according to DANE.
Colombia’s soaring consumer prices are part of a global phenomenon that has affected people from China to the United States.
The inflation is particularly painful in Colombia because many people who lost their jobs as a consequence of the coronavirus pandemic continue to be unemployed.
The United Nations’ Economic Commission on Latin America and the Caribbean warned earlier about the effects of inflation on poverty and hunger in Colombia.