This week the price for Cassava across Guyana rose to $260 from $80 at the start of the year, while raw chicken rose from $340 per pound to $600.
In her Budget presentation to the National Assembly in February, Shadow Finance Minister MP Juretha Fernandes zeroed in on the high inflation rate and its effect on consumers.
She pointed out that since the PPP was installed in 2020 the inflation rate has risen astronomically. In 2019 the last full year of the APNUAFC in Government the inflation rate was 2.09%, in 2020 it had dropped to as low as 0.7%.
Last year Dr. Singh projected that inflation would have been contained at 1.6 percent for 2021. She however observed that Dr. Singh in the reading of Budget 2022, admitted, inflation rate in 2021 was in fact recorded at 5.7 percent. “Over three and a half times his announced target,” She stated.
She is estimating that by the end of 2022 the inflation rate would have increased by 11%. “When this budgetary period ends, the PPP would have presided over a total inflation rate of over 11% in just two and a half years.”
MP Fernandes’ concerns, if examined in the context of the market price for cassava and chicken, presents a frightening scenario for the Guyanese family and food security.
“Poverty, the lack of basic human needs, will continue to plague our most vulnerable under this careless, heartless, immoral, inhumane budget”, she posited.
She lamented that the 2022 Budget is a debt burden for the citizens of Guyana and will cost each family $476,000 to repay.
More, In The Ring.
