The stylized facts of the relationship between El Niño, La Niña and inflation in Colombia

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The series Working Papers on Economics is published by the Office for Economic Studies at the Banco de la República (Central Bank of Colombia). The works published are provisional, and their authors are fully responsible for the opinions expressed in them, as well as for possible mistakes. The opinions expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of Banco de la República or its Board of Directors.

AUTHOR OR EDITOR
Valeria Bejarano-Salcedo
Edgar Caicedo-García
Nilson Felipe Lizarazo-Bonilla
Juan Manuel Julio-Román
Julián Alonso Cárdenas-Cárdenas

The series Borradores de Economía (Working Papers on Economics) contributes to the dissemination and promotion of the work by researchers from the institution. On multiple occasions, these works have been the result of collaborative work with individuals from other national or international institutions. This series is indexed at Research Papers in Economics (RePEc)

Publication Date:
Friday, 21 February 2020

The opinions contained in this document are the sole responsibility of the author and do not commit Banco de la República or its Board of Directors.

 

Abstract

 

This document presents a characterization of the meteorological phenomena of El Niño and La Niña, and a description of their main effects on pollution in Colombia. These climatic episodes have been presented for centuries in the national territory, generating changes in the level of temperatures and rainfall in most of the Colombian territory, without having historically had a regular pattern of occurrence and intensity. During the occurrence of El Niño, the negative effect on the agricultural sector is highlighted, which strongly impacts the prices of the food basket and, to a lesser extent, annual inflation to the consumer. Despite the non-systematic occurrence of these climatic events, food inflation, consumer inflation and the relative price of food that lead bullish behavior during the occurrence of El Niño. During La Niña there is a loss of consumer prices. The relative price of food shows reductions at the conclusion of either phenomenon.