Food CPI
Food CPI is a Latin Macro Watch indicator from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) that measures the average change over time in the prices of a basket of food and non-alcoholic beverages purchased by households. It is usually published as a subcomponent of the overall consumer price index (CPI), and its precise coverage varies across countries. The series helps analysts, policymakers and researchers track food-price inflation and cost-of-living pressures across Latin America and the Caribbean.
Coverage
The indicator covers 13 countries at annual, monthly and quarterly frequency, spanning 1990–2026. Values are available as an index, including a rebased index (2023 = 100) and average-of-period and end-of-period variants, plus year-to-date (YTD) forms, with transformations including month-over-month, quarter-over-quarter and year-over-year percentage changes (MoM %, QoQ %, YoY %).
Sources
Data are compiled from national statistics institutes and central banks, including INEGI - Mexico, INDEC - Argentina, Instituto de Pesquisa Econômica Aplicada and Banco Central de El Salvador. The series is curated and standardized by the Latin Macro Watch dataset on the IDB Open Data portal.
Metadata & use
| Format | CSV |
|---|---|
| Language | en |
| Country |
Argentina
Bahamas
Trinidad & Tobago
Belize
Costa Rica
Dominican Republic
Ecuador
Bolivia
Brazil
Chile
Colombia
El Salvador
Jamaica
Mexico
Nicaragua
Guatemala
Guyana
Haiti
Honduras
Panama
Uruguay
Venezuela
Barbados
Paraguay
Peru
Suriname
|
| Data notes |
What does Food CPI measure?It measures the average change over time in the prices of a basket of food and non-alcoholic beverages purchased by households, usually as a subcomponent of the overall CPI. How many countries and which frequencies and period are covered?The indicator covers 13 countries across Latin America and the Caribbean at annual, monthly and quarterly frequency, spanning 1990 to 2026. What units and transformations are available?Values are available as an index, including a rebased index (2023 = 100) and average-of-period and end-of-period variants, plus YTD forms, with MoM %, QoQ % and YoY % transformations. Where does the data come from?Data are compiled from national statistics institutes and central banks, including INEGI - Mexico, INDEC - Argentina and Instituto de Pesquisa Econômica Aplicada. What are typical uses of this indicator?It is used to analyze food-price inflation, cost-of-living and food-security pressures, and to compare household price dynamics across countries for policy and academic research. How do I cite this indicator?Cite it as: Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), Latin Macro Watch — "Food CPI". data.iadb.org/dataset/latin-macro-watch-dataset. |