Santo Domingo – The Dominican Liberation Party (PLD) has raised concerns over the widening gap between household income and the cost of living, citing a dramatic increase in the price of the basic food basket, which now exceeds RD$76,190.07 per month—more than triple the average family income, currently estimated at RD$22,122.70.
PLD Agricultural Secretary Adriano Sánchez Roa denounced the figure as evidence of a sharp decline in purchasing power and a deepening poverty crisis affecting both low-income and middle-class households across the country.
Sánchez Roa criticized the Central Bank’s methodology for calculating living costs, accusing it of misrepresenting the economic reality by adjusting down both the quantity and quality of goods included in the index. He warned that this practice distorts the true impact of inflation on families.
Citing data from August 2020 to June 2025, he highlighted steep price hikes in key staples: rice prices have more than doubled, beans and chicken have nearly doubled, and cooking oil has tripled. Other essentials—coffee, garlic, onions, sugar, and eggs—have also registered significant increases.
Beyond food inflation, Sánchez Roa pointed to deteriorating public services and essential goods, noting frequent blackouts, rising electricity and medicine costs, and a decline in public health coverage under the national insurance program SENASA.
The PLD has called on the government to adopt urgent economic measures to address what it describes as a growing crisis in affordability and access to basic needs.
