The cost of the family basket rose to RD$76,190 per month

The cost of the basic food basket , which includes food, healthcare, education, housing, electricity, and transportation, has currently skyrocketed to RD$ 76,190.07 per month, tripling the average salary of families with income, which barely reaches RD$22,122.70.

This was stated by the Dominican Liberation Party (PLD), through the agricultural secretary , former senator Adriano Sánchez Roa, who added that the Central Bank, by defining costs by quintiles, reduces the quantity and quality of the products and services included, which lowers the standard of living of the majority of Dominicans.

According to a press release from the PLD, the rise in the prices of basic foodstuffs , such as rice, beans, chicken, beef and pork , oil, sugar, salt, bread, eggs, plantains, cassava, among others, has forced the poorest families, and even sectors of the middle class , to reduce the number of meals per day.

Sánchez Roa said that this is compounded by the incessant blackouts and increases in electricity rates, which have further raised the cost of living. Also affecting this are the deteriorating health services, rising drug prices, and the situation at Senasa.

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The former manager of Banco Agrícola explained that this occurs in a context in which many families live in precarious housing conditions.

How the increase in basic products impacts:

Sánchez Roa noted that a pound of select rice cost RD$21.10 in August 2020, but today it stands at RD$45.50, a 115.6% increase; red beans went from RD$50.00 to RD$90.13 per pound, an 80.3% increase; while 128 ounces of oil cost RD$262.00, but now stands at RD$794.95, an increase of approximately 203.4%.

The former union leader pointed out that cassava rose from RD$9.50 in August 2020 to RD$19.95 per pound in June 2025; a plantain cost RD$14.20 and rose to RD$20.10; chicken meat sold for RD$44.00 per pound and is currently at RD$93.60; beef , which cost RD$103.00, is now at RD$242.95.

He added that " pork increased by 56.20%; red onion , 121.8; milk 46.20%; garlic 125.4%; bread 100%; sweet potato 44.50%; egg 86.60%; coffee 295.70%; sugar 109.80%; and spaghetti 49.5%, among others."

Sánchez Roa concluded that, with the cost of the basic food basket 344.4% above the average income of salaried families, the Dominican population is facing an accelerated process of impoverishment, especially among the most vulnerable sectors and the middle class.

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