Colombia | Food insecurity and high prices, a bad combination

In Colombia, the results on food security were published, and despite the decrease in the percentage of households with food insecurity, the deterioration of employment, high food prices and increases in services and rents, reduce the chances of major improvements in this indicator, at least in 2024.

Key points

• Key points:
• The results of the study on food security in Colombia were recently published, and the media have reported a significant decrease in the percentage of households with moderate or severe food insecurity, from 28.1% in 2022 to 26.1% in 2023.
• In 2023, Colombia imported about 11.8% of its agricultural consumption and exported about 12.3% of it, suggesting that Colombia has the capacity to feed its inhabitants. However, DANE estimates that 36 out of every 100 Colombians would not have enough money to buy a minimum basket of food and services to live on.
• Food inflation reached 27.8% in December 2022 (this century's maximum), which leads to consumers being able to put less products on their table with the same amount of money, resulting in high food insecurity.
• Despite the decline in inflation, prices remain high and lower inflation will not lead to lower prices, only slower price increases.
• The tight budget coupled with the expectation of deteriorating unemployment, and the fact that rents and utilities can maintain a high rate of increases, makes it difficult to improve food insecurity.

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