Family food basket tops $755 in August

The cost of the family food basket exceeded $755 in August 2026, according to El Nacional, which reported on measurements by the Centro de Documentación y Análisis Social de la Federación Venezolana de Maestros (Cendas-FVM). The organization said that the monthly minimum wage, equivalent to a few cents of a dollar, covers just 0.02% of the total cost of food.

To understand this phenomenon, it is necessary to point out that the value of the basket reflects the gap between fixed incomes and prices in the domestic market. Amid the continuing erosion of purchasing power, households are turning to a range of financial survival strategies and to the use of multiple reference values.

Meanwhile, the research center Cedice Libertad recorded inflation of 6.99% in bolívares and 0.77% in dollars for August, according to data published by El Nacional. The report notes that Caracas registered the largest monthly increase in bolívares, at 8.96%, while Maracaibo had the most expensive basket in the country, at $980.32, and also led cumulative inflation over the past 12 months.

These figures come amid an economic environment in which the official exchange rate set by the Central Bank of Venezuela stood at 852.42 bolívares per dollar on the reference date. This official rate coexists permanently with a parallel foreign-exchange market, which shapes the actual formation of prices and everyday access to essential consumer goods.