Escalating costs on consumer goods

Tue, Jul 20th 2021, 08:29 AM

The Bahamas Price Control Commission is monitoring the “escalating” rise in the cost of everyday goods particularly over the past few months, according to its Chairman Danny Sumner.

“We’re overpricing ourselves and this is bad. We are trying to find a way to remedy the situation,” he said.

Globally, prices for food, fuel, minerals and even metals have been on the rise. Last week the consumer price index for the US – The Bahamas’ largest trading partner – jumped more than five percent to its highest point in more than a decade.

Sumner said it has continued trends from last year at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic when prices roses just marginally, however he said in the past six months prices in The Bahamas have escalated and so have complaints to his department.

“The main problem for price escalation right now is fuel. You would note that gas a year ago was $3 a gallon now it’s over $5. You have to take in consideration the merchants, the wholesalers and the retailers. Literally we import everything in this country, so basically when fuel goes up look for that increase to be reflected in duty on importation and freight. The Bahamas imports everything, food and clothing and those are the areas where people are complaining,” he told Guardian Business.

“These complaints have been going on for the last six months or so.”

The most recent data on prices for The Bahamas was contained in the Monthly Economic and Financial Developments report for May, in which The Central Bank of The Bahamas predicted prices would remain subdued in 2021 with an inflation rate of two percent. However, Sumner said consumers are feeling the pinch in their pockets.

“We did our investigation and we discovered that the prices that have been increasing in the various food stores and the various convenience stores are due to fuel costs and the availability and the demand for these items. That is why sometimes you go in the food store, you find items readily available at one price and you go back the next week and the same items are priced higher. 

“Other than that we have seen an increase in cereals and produce that we eat every day like grapes, apples and oranges. These prices have been going up. Unfortunately these things are not protected by the bread basket that we have. So the price control officers we have that go out on a daily basis primarily look for increases in bread basket items like corned beef, soup, eggs and so forth. Those prices are not on the increase, I can assure you that, those prices are steady. And the reason for that is because they can only go up a marginal percent.”

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