A Venezuelan family needs 645.6 dollars a month to pay for food, according to Cendas-FVM
A family needed 645.6 dollars in February to cover basic food expenses in Venezuela, according to the NGO Center for Documentation and Analysis of the Venezuelan Federation of Teachers (Cendas-FVM), which released its estimate of the family food basket this Monday. According to the organization, which estimates the amount based on a family of five, the cost of the family basket in dollars decreased by 4.7% compared to the previous month. However, it highlighted the "purchasing power gap" in the country, considering the difference between the cost of the family basket and the minimum wage, frozen since 2022 at 130 bolivars per month, an amount equivalent to about 33 cents of a dollar at the average official exchange rate during February. In this regard, the NGO stated that a Venezuelan minimum wage covers only 0.05% of the cost of the basic family basket, for which 1,937 monthly minimum wages or 4.4 "economic war" bonuses are required, a complement paid by the Venezuelan government each month. "The current minimum wage is, in practice, nonexistent compared to the cost of living," said Oscar Meza, director of Cendas-FVM. In recent years, the Executive has focused its salary policy on the payment of two bonuses for public workers that have no impact on labor benefits and that total 160 dollars: one of 40 dollars for food and another of 120 dollars, called "economic war income," both deposited in bolivars at the official rate of the day. Cendas-FVM indicated that the item with the highest price increase was sauces and mayonnaise (37.36%), followed by fish and seafood (15.53%). The Central Bank of Venezuela (BCV) reported in early March that the South American country accumulated an inflation of 51.9% in the first two months of 2026, after registering a price increase of 14.6% in February and 32.6% in January. Union organizations and workers marched this Monday in Caracas to the headquarters of the Ministry of Labor, and to labor inspectorates in other states, to demand salary increases and labor improvements in the face of the country's economic crisis. EFE If you want to receive this and other information on your cell phone, download Telegram, enter the linkhttps://t.me/albertorodnews and click +Join. Alberto News
