By Bebi Oosman
Last week, Stabroek News spoke to members of the public in New Amsterdam about how the cost of living is affecting them. Their comments follow:
Lalita Brigbhukan
Lalita Brigbhukan, a vendor for over seven years in New Amsterdam said, “Me does roll and sell. Things hard these days. People complaining a lot. Everything gone up; all thing gone up. Things really rough. Me get loan to pay. People salary na raise and they complaining to buy, but we trying.”
Ewart Kurt
Ewart Kurt, 55, a vendor said: “I have been in vending for years. I do all kind of different vending but now I doing lil clothing. Business is up and down and then cost of living; people salary ain’t raising but then everything raising. Most time we does try to see what best we could do, we work for a minimum. When you go supermarket you see X price and when you go back next day the price gone up but if you need the commodity what you gon do? This is the highest I ever see things go up and I guess we get more to go. If we get price control and thing that go help. We got to get control price because people complaining a lot. Everybody talking about it.”
Sabrina Archer
Sabrina Archer said: “It’s affecting all of us because when we go in the market we see prices gone up and even the supermarket because what you used to buy for $5,000, the amount of things, you have to put more money to get the same amount now. You have to know what you picking up, because we only buying essential things now. You don’t really go and pick up at random. Look the price for sugar! Everything gone sky high. Everything has gone way up, it has really escalated. I am a pensioner, my husband is a pensioner so we try to live within our means.”
Ramoutar Wazir
Ramoutar Wazir said: “Every-thing increase. It’s hard but we got to try with it. You got to work because you can’t really do nothing about it. It’s a world thing, not just a country thing in Guyana, the world facing it. The government doing as much they could. They trying their best, they trying to subsidize the food pro-ducts, they cut the gas price already.”
Alvin Hema
Alvin Hema said: “First of all you have to know how to live. According to your standard of living, what you earn you must live within that means. If you live within your means I don’t think you should go overboard. People need to be smart shoppers. The government should try to increase the threshold so people can be able to get a little more finance into their pockets so they can cope with it.”
Shanny Ranjan
Shanny Ranjan said: “Everything raise. My husband does do the shopping and he said everything raise. We do farming. We suffering. We does get flood, manure raise, drugs raise, we does punish to sell we thing. This the highest them prices ever go. People does come and buy load and them does seh it very hard now because when them buy the load them does got to sell it back reasonable to get back something. We does got to raise a two dollar more because everything raise so is everybody affected.”
Tabiel Blair
Tabiel Blair, 24, said: “Actually everything raise, but I’m managing. I have more than one income so it’s not that tough but things getting higher every day and the more it keep going up the more we got to spend and it’s going to be hard on everybody. I think it’s important to have more than one income, three even better. Also, you got to budget and try to buy essentials, don’t buy more than you can afford and in between you can buy things. Although things are increasing, I think things are being done. The government is building call centres to offer persons job, they offering extra money pension wise and other stuff so things are happening. Right now I am comfortable and I think they are trying to help everybody at this point.”
Deoraine Singh
Deoraine Singh said: “It very hard for me because I am a single parent. I have five kids them married, but I got my small daughter and a grandson and a granddaughter. I am a diabetic and when people get work to do I go and try manage it. What little I get I try to make it work because things expensive. Sometimes it last me and sometimes it doesn’t but we got to try.”
Junior Best
Junior Best who sells in front of the New Amsterdam Public Hospital said: “We are trying. I try not to raise any of these prices. Things going up yes but we got to try with it.”
Ivan Sinclair
Ivan Sinclair, 70, said: “All thing raise. It did happen one time in Burnham time and he try to control it. He had a price control officer moving around and now they got to do something. They taking the oil money and put it where they want to put it. I think they can afford to give each house a million or two million dollar. Everything just keep going up, two-pound plantain $500, so wah we deh pon? I get pension but I still work security. Me got to work. It’s like I go to sleep and when I wake up I see everything in the air, all them prices gone up and them ain’t coming down. But you got to go with the flow. You want eat plantain, you buy the plantain, wah come so do, when the money done, it done.”
Tulseddai Amidalli
Tulseddai Amidalli, 44, said: “A lot of things prices gone up and then when you got to pay your bills and then you buy groceries you na lef with nothing and it a hard. I am a single parent and me a work at the ten-day work. Me get three children and me really need a house lot. I renting and it hard; we really need a house lot. We just trying with what we get right now.”
