Almost 10 million Peruvians subsist on less than S/446

29% of Peruvians ended 2023 mired in monetary poverty, according to the National Institute of Statistics and Informatics (INEI). There are 9 million 780,000 people who do not reach S/446 per month to meet the basic needs of their home: food, health, transportation, housing and education, among others.

It is worth adding that The INEI set the threshold of S/446 by measuring the incidence of poverty, its gap and severity; and below S/251 per month, they are considered extremely poor. Here, there are 1,922,000 citizens—a little more than 250,000 than in the year the pandemic broke out.

Less and less money is earned

Between 2019 and 2023, real income per inhabitant per month contracted from S/1,278 to S/1,148: 10.2% less. In addition, spending collapsed: from S/970 to S/866 after the pandemic.

And, within the limited margin of money that Peruvians have, the figures of the INEI reflect that a large part goes to spending on essential elements such as food (29.5%), food outside the home (11.8%) and accommodation, water, electricity and gas (21.6%). Only 3.0% is allocated for recreational activities.

“Peruvians consume less and less. It is a very difficult and tight situation. The bulk of Peruvian families, as we have seen in recent years, in the face of an unforeseen event or emergency end up sacrificing their budget for food, which covers almost half of their money,” commented, for La República, the principal researcher of the IEP, Carolina Trivelli, who adds that this imbalance promotes the advancement of malnutrition.

The report of INEI specifies that, in the year of the recession, of 110 products that make up the basic food basket, 95 increased their prices; seven reduced it and in eight there were no variations. Among the main foods that increased their price the most we find eggs (24.1%), tomato (30.0%), lemon (21.4%), onion (27.3%), noodles (16.3% ), lettuce (10.0%) and chicken (8.4%).

Do not exceed S/446

Trivelli recommends taking the official line data carefully. povertysince it responds to the minimum and essential capacity to survive.

In his opinion, it is not that if a person has S/446 or one sol or S/10 more, he is already in good condition and stops being poor, on the contrary, he continues to live “ultra tight” month after month in the face of contraction. of the incomes.

Trivelli’s analysis differs from the example given by the president of the Central Reserve Bank of Peru (BCRP), Julio Velarde, at CADE 2023. The banker assured that “11% of the poor lack 11 soles or less per month to leave poverty: whether it be selling one more emollient or half a kilo more of potatoes.”

MEF contradicts itself

The Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF) assures that, with GDP growth of 3.1% in 2024, poverty is expected to be reduced between 2 and 3 percentage points (better than in 2022: 27.5%). .

However, at the end of March, Minister José Arista recognized that the economic projections of 3%—the rate managed by the BCRP—are very low to reduce poverty. “We must aspire to grow at rates close to 5% to see that poverty is being reduced again,” he mentioned in a conference. Until 2027, The Government of Dina Boluarte foresees an annual increase in GDP of 3%.

On the other hand, Adrián Armas, central manager of Economic Studies at the BCRP, maintained that the 3% rebound and inflation stagnant at 2% will contribute to reducing poverty levels.

The data

Attention. 3.2 million poor people fell into poverty between 2019 and 2023. In urban areas, the rate rose from 14.6% to 26.4%; and in rural areas, from 24.1% to 26.4%.

Alarm. There are 10 regions with poverty ratios higher than the national average: Cajamarca (44.5%), Loreto (43.5%), Pasco (41.7%) and Puno (41.6%) have the most alarming figures.