The Tribune

By YOURI KEMP

Tribune Business Reporter

ykemp@tribunemedia.net

Consumers yesterday called for the Government to increase the minimum wage and remove VAT from breadbasket items to ease the pain inflicted by inflation-busting price hikes.

Nadia Miller told Tribune Business: “Prices are too high. They need to raise the minimum wage because it is too small to be paying bills and to be eating out of it. It is just not working.

“Right now, $50 can’t get you anything. Eggs alone is $4 and bread is at $6. Everything is high. With $50 last year you may have been able to substitute because you were getting other little nick-nacks from people that were giving out things. Now you have to use all of that $50 because everything has come to a stop.”

Demarius Cash added: “My thing is, and I don’t claim to understand economics or labour, but all I know is there is a limited supply but the demand is there because in society now there is not a lot of output. Yet there is a higher demand for items, so in order to get those goods you have to pay the price.

“I still think that, at the end of the day, this is a time for us to get back into self-sufficiency and producing things locally. This is evident now because where are we getting all of this stuff from? From other countries, and the demand is up around the world, so we are going to have to pay top dollar to get what we want.”

Sidney Strachan, another shopper, added: “I really don’t think it’s the right time for prices to go up. I heard the food stores talking about it, and the charitable organisations talking about it, but now is not the time for prices to go up.”

Freight increases, coupled with trucker and stevedore shortages in the US, have placed a heavy burden on countries such as The Bahamas that import the majority of what they consume. Mr Strachan accepts that, adding: “Things are happening with the shipping. That is causing the prices to rise, but I don’t know what’s going to happen when everything gets back to normal.

“I don’t expect prices to drop dramatically when we get back to normal. But, all in all, I don’t think all of the prices went up dramatically like how people are saying. I frequent Super Value all the time and the prices haven’t gone up that much from what I saw. Everything is affordable to me and, in some instances, sales are still ongoing.”

Jermaine Baker said: “All this does is make people more dependent on the Government. What I don’t like is that they lowered VAT but then they implemented VAT on the breadbasket items, so it’s like you really didn’t do anything for the people.

“Last year, construction and prices for wood were crazy. It cost you $100 for one sheet of plywood last year, so this rising price of food and other items is a part of the trend.”