:quality(85)//cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/infobae/JEQAAZA72RDYJNJS3L3CFM6ZMM.jpeg "Inflation hits household spending in Colombia: it fell 2.9% in February")
In FEBRUARY of 2023, the household spending fell 2.9% compared to the same month last year. According to the signature VoiceThis decrease is mainly due to the fact that the inflation It has not yet lost ground and it still touches the pocket of households. Moreover, because it follows the growth of the debt servicing.
According to the gastometry of Voicehousehold spending in Colombia in February 2023 reached $82.3 billion and in the last 12 months it was $957.3 billion. This expenditure presented a current annual growth of 10.04%, however, a fairly marked deceleration in the dynamics of expenditure is observed this month.
“This expenditure experienced a variation of 1.7% in current pesos compared to the previous month. Households experienced monthly inflation of 1.66% and 13.28% compared to last year. This caused household spending in real terms to increase by 0.07% from the previous month and decrease by -2.9% from the same month last year,” Raddar said.
From this, something that could be highlighted is that compared to January, if there was a real spending growthwhich may be due to the fact that the school season could have been stronger during this month.
“Wages and rents have been the main driver of household spending this month of February, however, taking into account that inflation directly affects the purchasing power of wages, these could be affected if inflation doesn’t start to give way,” Raddar said.
According to the consultant, the current annual growth of 10.04% is due, in particular, to the growth of the inflation (13.28% annual), which has not yielded since the first half of 2022.
Moreover, for the school season that he could have been stronger this month. Also, because the unemployment (13.7%) experienced a rebound, which could affect the pockets of some households and the credit placementhad a fairly marked deceleration.
However, it continues to grow weight of debt in household pockets and the weather continues to affect the harvest, which shifts the food inflation.
“Households had monthly inflation of 1.66% and 13.28% compared to last year. This caused household expenditure in real terms to increase by 0.07% compared to the previous month and to decrease by -2.9% compared to the same month last year,” the consultant clarified.
She noted that the credit placement in February he had a slow-down quite pronounced at 32.5%, which could be the effect of the growth in debt service, since many households could prioritize paying debts in the face of interest rate hikes.
Similarly, placement with credit cards declined to 15.0%, which may show that households are only spending with their disposable income. During this time he payment of credit installments (19.98%) it continues to grow within the household pocket, which directly affects the dynamics of spending within households.
“During the year 2021, disposable income fell by almost two full percentage points relative to household income due to the increase in the value of frequent purchases, standing at 5.72% after having been at 8.03% in February 2022, mainly affected by food inflation. In 2022, the decline in available comes from the increase in debt service,” he explained.
However, the president Gustavo Petro manifested itself recently in the reduction of household expenditure. On this subject, the President mentioned the impact of the increase in bank interest rates (12.75% that established by the Bank of the Republic since January) and the relationship that exists with the fall in the rate household consumption in Colombia.
“Family consumption does not fall because of uncertainty, it falls because of rising interest rates, which increase the financial costs of housing,” writes Petro in Twitter.