Merida: the third most expensive city in the country

In the last eleven months, inflationary growth has placed the Yucatecan capital among the five most expensive cities in the country. Consumer prices remain above the national average, even though the average salary in Merida is ranked 20th, among the lowest in the country.

According to data from the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI), in March inflation again reached a record of over 8.80 percent, 1.9 percent above the national average, which was estimated at 6.9 percent, putting high pressure on the pockets of the most economically oppressed Merida families.

According to this indicator, compared to February, the inflationary index in the third month of the year showed a decrease of 1.18 percent, when an increase of almost 10 percent was reported. Although the reduction in inflation allows the economy to take a breather, price increases are maintained primarily in basic food basket products, which significantly reduces the acquisition power and therefore, the food supply of middle class and low income families in Yucatan.

These data also report a high impact on the purchasing power of the lowest salaried workers, who must pay high prices for basic products, when their labor compensation does not increase at the same rate as the price of the most indispensable products.

The products that reported significant increases are lemon with a monthly variation of 26.73 percent, air transportation with a variation of 25.99 percent, and tourist services, which presented a variation of 8.59 percent. However, hundreds of families were able to take a few days off to go to the beach.

Meanwhile, the products that represented a drop in prices were: cucumber, with a 15.93 percent drop, and natural domestic gas, with a 6.34 percent decrease. Throughout this process, the impact on prices is gradually increasing due to uncertainty, insecurity, and the costs of fuel fluctuation in the transportation of goods.

On this subject, Levy Abraham Macari, president of the National Chamber of Commerce, Services and Tourism of Merida (CONACO-Merida), stated that the reduction in inflation is important news for the commercial sector, which has seen a reduction in sales, primarily at the retail level, in order to overcome the conditions of the margins of stability of their businesses.

He stated that the high cost of products has been difficult and the population is feeling the problem, although the state’s economy is quite stable and employment has been created, salary conditions still represent a serious problem, fundamentally because 85 percent of the population earns between two and three minimum wages.

TYT Newsroom