The government has implemented various initiatives and policies over the last four years to address the rise of global food prices and cushion the cost of living here.
This was highlighted again yesterday by President Irfaan Ali, as he detailed the impacts of the government’s measures during a live broadcast last evening.
The Department of Public Information (DPI) said that the president reminded that the rise in global food prices and the costs of transportation, goods and services resulted from the Russian-Ukraine war, and the global pandemic, among other disruptions.
In the European Union, food price inflation, he said, increased from the last quarter of 2021 to reach 3.5 per cent in January and 7.5 per cent in May 2022.
In Latin America and the Caribbean, food price inflation rose steadily from January 2022 to 81.6 per cent by September 2023.
Food price inflation in the United States jumped 10.9 per cent in July 2022, the highest since 1980.
“This is the global environment in which we are a part of and operating. When you look at our figures and the inflation rate for Guyana compared to all of these regions, it is remarkable in the way that we have been able to manage our economy…And the way we have been able to cushion these costs,” the president said, according to DPI.
The government has come under constant criticism over the insistent cries from the public over the cost of living. Their complaints about the cost of living have come in the backdrop of the massive inflows of oil money into the economy.
In 2023, Ali said that Guyana’s food inflation rate was 3.8 per cent, 7.8 per cent in Jamaica and 81.67 per cent in the Latin American region.
The low food inflation rate in Guyana, he said, is because of the deliberate investments and measures implemented by the government to boost food production by providing the necessary support to the poultry sector and farmers.
“This is not by any accident. This is by the deliberate interventions of the government. This is by the policies and programmes in the budget that are buttressing the economy and creating an environment that leads to stability,” the head of state contended, according to DPI.
The government, he said, instituted a range of measures to further reduce food inflation such as the removal of value added tax (VAT) on fertilisers, agrochemicals, pesticides and several inputs in the poultry industry, at an annual estimated cost of $262 million.
And this does not include the more than $1 billion that was disbursed in 2023 to provide agricultural implements to farmers.
The government also removed VAT on machinery, corporate income tax, reversed drainage and irrigation (D&I) fees, constructed shade houses, farm to market roads and D&I infrastructures, he said, and a broiler breeders facility was established to reduce the dependency on the importation of hatching eggs.
The rising fuel and freight costs were also addressed and wages and salaries were also increas-ed for public servants by more than $90 billion, he said, according to DPI.
Other measures to lower cost of living included the taxes on building materials being waivered and the subsidies for utilities were restored.
VAT was also dropped on medical supplies, electricity and water, saving citizens almost $3 billion annually.
To boost the income of many households, the government reinstituted the ‘Because We Care’ cash grant, placing over $22 billion into the hands of parents over the last four years.
He noted in the broadcast that old age pension and public assistance were increased by more than 75 per cent and 111.1 per cent respectively.
Before the end of 2024, Ali pledged to highlight more strategies that will increase disposable income at the household level and expand prosperity, DPI said..
