Inflation not only hit Mexico last year, but most of the world’s countries as well.
Last Friday, Inegi announced that in 2021 the inflation rate was 7.36%, well above the 3.4% of 2020 and the 3.0% target that was set for last year.
If we compare the 7.36% with the inflation rate of the G20 members, which are 19 countries plus the European Union, we have that of Mexico was the fifth highest after those of Argentina (51.2%), Turkey (36.8%), Brazil (10.74%) and Russia (8.39%).
Of the 38 countries that make up the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Mexico’s rate was the fourth highest, after Turkey (36.08%) and Poland (8.6%) and Hungary (7.4%).
Among 33 countries and territories in America, the inflation rate of our country was the ninth highest, after those of Venezuela (1,198.0%), Suriname (69.5%), Argentina (51.2%), Haiti (10.91%), Brazil (10.74%), Jamaica (8.5%), Dominican Republic (8.23%) and Uruguay (7.96%).
The economic crisis that caused the pandemic made inflation a serious problem in countries that, even before the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, did not suffer from high price increases.
For example, the United Kingdom, which in 2020 had a rate of 1.0%, ended 2021 with a rate of 5.1 percent. The United States, which last year had an inflation of 1.2%, ended last year with a rate of 6.8 percent.
In many countries, including Mexico, the increase in food prices last year seriously affected tens of millions of people.
In our country, the prices of fruits and vegetables increased 21.73% and those of other livestock products 11.11 percent.
The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO for its acronym in English), released a few days ago the global price increases in 2021 of food in general (28.1%), cereals (27.2%) , vegetable oil (65.8%), dairy (16.9%), meat (12.7%) and sugar (37.5%).
In 2021, the world prices of corn and wheat increased 44.1 and 31.3%, respectively, which undoubtedly affected and affects the millions of people who consume tortillas and bread.
Covid-19 complicated food production and transportation processes and the new wave of infections generated by the Omicron variant will contribute to making most of the products we consume more expensive. Maritime, land and air means of transport are semi paralyzed because thousands of workers who have been infected are not working. The cancellations of thousands of commercial flights during the last three weeks due to the absence due to illness of pilots, flight attendants and ground personnel around the world are an example of the complicated situation that prevails. The same occurs in shipping, rail and trucking companies, seaports and supply centers. There are simply not enough staff to carry out the necessary processes that bring food from production centers to consumers’ tables.
As much as we want it, the pandemic is not over. As much as our leaders want to convince us that things are going well, the reality that we face on a daily basis ends up prevailing.
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Opinioner, columnist, lecturer, media trainer, 35 years of experience in the media, micro-entrepreneur.