Churches denounce a shortage of hosts in the middle of Holy Week: inflation triggered costs

The celebration of Holy Week in Colombia is progressing and, with it, thousands of people are mobilizing around different regions to attend religious activities organized by Catholic churches. According to the Ministry of Transport, at least 8,326,792 vehicles are projected to travel on the main roads of the country, which is why the transit authorities have insisted on the importance of taking all security measures.

However, while details are being finalized to receive the parishioners in the congregations on Thursday and Good Friday, and Easter Sunday, a problem has aroused uncertainty between different parishes in the national territory: the shortage of hosts to meet the high demand at this time.

According to the theologian Luis Fernando Cuartas, in an interview with Blu Radio, the exchange of a thousand hosts, which usually cost 9,000 pesos, is now around 12,000 pesos. “Inflation has had an impact on shipments, because the price of the commercial houses that carry them went up a lot. We need about 60,000 very urgent wafers to arrive as soon as possible,” he said.

This scenario has led churches to launch various campaigns to facilitate the supply of such a product, especially to religious establishments with fewer resources. The Archdiocese of Medellín, for example, which has more than 200 parishes, prisons, orphanages, seminaries and asylums, is one of the most affected by the lack of hosts.

Cuartas also stated that units have been sent to “Caldas, Jericho and northeastern Antioquia, up to the borders with Norte de Santander. We have also sent to Mount Lebanon and covered the entire Chocó through the Dioceses of Quibdo and Istmina Tadó.”

La Guajira and the Amazon are other regions of particular concern, because, apart from the increase in prices, high shipping costs must be added.

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In early April, the National Administrative Department of Statistics (Dane) reported that the consumer price index (CPI) had a variation of 1%, representing an increase of almost double compared to the same month in 2021, when it stood at 0.51%.

Thus, annualized inflation in Colombia, in March of this year, stood at 8.53%, more than 5.6 percentage points compared to the figures recorded in March 2021, where it was 1.51%. The greatest variations occurred in the divisions food and non-alcoholic beverages (2.84%) and furniture, household items and ordinary household preservation (1.83%).

The new indicators have directly affected the pocket of Colombians, since there have been multiple reports by citizens on increases in food costs.

The most important increases occurred in the subclasses: potatoes (110.22%), cassava for home consumption (85.14%), bananas (82.57%), onion (10.65%) and blackberries (9.60%). The lowest price increases were reported in the subclasses: rice (0.54%), arracacha, yams and other tubers (0.83%) and concentrates for preparing soft drinks (1.55%). They should also be added to the subclasses: meals in self-service and table service establishments, with 0.95%; beef and derivatives, with 0.71%, and electricity, with 0.44%.

Meanwhile, the largest price decreases were reported in the subclasses: pork meat and derivatives (-2.34%), carrot (-1.70%) and bananas (-0.32%). Likewise, the subclasses with the lowest contributions were those belonging to fixed and mobile communication services and internet provision, with -0.43%; women's clothing, with -0.06%; and enrollment and enrollment in technical, technological and university careers, with -0.04%.

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