The Average Panamanian Spends More Than Half Their Wages on Food

The average minimum wage in Panama is $636.80 a month.  The Basic Family Food Basket closed the month of June at $340.70 and only slightly better in July at a maximum of $334.54, according to the Consumer Protection and Competition Authority known as Acodeco.  Every Panamanian who earns the minimum wage must spend an average of 52.53% of their income on the purchase of some basic foods, not including the purchase of household cleaning products, personal care, baby care and others that are not included in the basket of products measured by Acodeco.  Basic services such as water, electricity, transportation, internet and others that every family needs in their monthly spending budget are also not listed.

According to Acodeco’s analysis after visiting 52 supermarkets, these establishments showed price increases for corn flakes, domestic tomatoes, tomato paste, dehydrated soup (chicken and noodles) and low-salt pressed white cheese.  And in the 37 mini-supermarkets and grocery stores (routes) registered by Acodeco, the products that increased the most were meat for soup (ribs), low-salt pressed white cheese, dehydrated soup (chicken and noodles), corn flakes and lettuce.  While there were price decreases in supermarkets, corvina fish, sweet and/or picoloro pepper, chicken thigh, soup meat (rib) and soda in plastic containers.  In mini-supermarkets and grocery stores the products that reported a slight decrease in price were chicken, eggs, margarine in bars, tuna in water, traditional ground coffee and evaporated milk.  The Acodeco report details that on average, consumers spend $95.66 each month on meat, $46.21 on cereals, $32.73 on vegetables, $18.33 on fruits and $41.11 on dairy products, among other products.

According to the National Institute of Statistics, consumer prices for food barely registered a year-on-year variation of 1.1% in July.  However, when broken down by product, it is indicated that legumes increased by 8.4% compared to July 2023 and 5.3% variation compared to June of this year.  Beef recorded a variation in the Consumer Price Index of 5.9% in one year, but -0.3% compared to June.  Milk recorded a 5.5% year-over-year increase in July and 0.5% compared to June 2024. The CPI for fruits also increased 4.4% year-over-year (July 2023 to July 2024).  Other items with increases in the consumer price index were sugar, yogurt, cereals, ice cream and juices, among others.  In detail, Acodeco describes that in July the average basic family basket was $287.39, the maximum was $334.54 and the minimum was $257.44. The price depends on the area and establishment.