Cost of living is affecting people
and still that’s not t of us in the famshould look into sing cost of living done for the peory hard for me oceries, I have the over to send them Even basic things p.” 5-year-old farmer “The cost of livuilding materials. rices to be so high t the other day I cost for 1 feet of st $250. Before 1 cost about $200. materials just risl food fluctuates a stance, boulanger ng $5,000 a bag, er. Even eschalot in prices has been ecause I’m spendhing and when I for workers, I’m save. The governike the co-op sysrnment can bring onsumers because ring in products, like importation other cost associthe product to ng is that the govpeople salaries in ey don’t have to alary. If you look now, people boraking credits from to get what they are not getting uy the things they ment le a in ple ding man
Amelia Hendricks
family. It was a challenge for me still because I have my two kids to look after. I started to run a boutique and gift centre last year so I can try to make ends meet but the rising cost of living now is really hard because the greens, the food items and everything gone up. A pound of cheese now is $900, before it was $600 a pound. I use cheese because I do baking for the children. Even the small pack Thunderbolt gone up to $360, before it was $240, followed by the pack snacks I buy for the children to take to school. A pack of snacks before was $900 and now the same pack cost $1,200. I usually make pastries for the children but because of the rising cost of living, to make these things now is expensive. It’s more hard with the greens also… bora, carrots, sometimes I get a pack of carrots for $700. I think the government should give food subsidy to everyone, just like how they shared the $25,000 food subsidy. That will be a good thing to do once more because when you look in the newspaper and see the basic things that people use like rice, flour, sugar, oil; the government should bring the prices down on those items. Another thing, we the vendors usually do vending near the road corners and near the road head but because of events such as Diwali and so forth, the [local government] would ask us to move our stand back into the Diamond-Grove Market. However, they had asked the vendors to do vending in the market for now until they make a final decision as to where we will be permanently vending. Some vendors are still vending at the road head and I would like the local government to come and see what’s going on. In the meantime, while they are trying to make a final decision about us vending, I would like to go back to vending near the corner of the road because there is where I get most of my customers from.”
Mark Schadde, a 35-yearold welder and fabricator said: “Everything gone up like electricity bill, internet bill; in the market, greens… For instance, right now 3 boulanger is for $500, before it was like 3 for $200. Even a pound of plantain now is for $360, before it was $80 a pound. This has been a little hard on me because not always I can afford to buy certain things.
I think the government should give the farmers some more money so they can cut down on certain cost on raw materials or expenses they incur on a daily basis in order for them to make a profit on the produce they are selling. Another thing is the government should place control prices on certain things because when gas prices gone down, you still find the driver raising their prices on the bus fare. For instance, when I used to pay $120 from Friendship to Georgetown a few months back, I’m paying $200 now for the same route. Even building materials like steel rod gone up. When you going to pay $5 million to build a house, long time, now you paying $9 million or more to build a house because the building materials gone up high.”
Richard Ramjal said: “When I go to the market to buy things, things just raising. Even down to the supermarkets are selling things expensive. So how can poor people live with that cost of living? Then the jobs that people do, they are being underpaid. The cost of living is very high. The government should create better jobs for people and work on carrying down the rising cost of living. I think Guyana will get better once this is done. Things gone up in the market. Like building material, that is more expensive, a ½inch steel rod now is nearly $2,300. Before it was $1,500, $1,600. Even cement high, now a sack of cement is