Dear Editor,

Back in July 12, 2024 I wrote in a letter to the editor, “The Stabroek News’ high-frequency monthly coverage of the cost of living is certainly providing a more reliable CPI index”. In this letter, I revisit the household (Frugal Family of Four, including two adult children). Dinner is chicken stew/curry: a 4-pound chicken, ½ pound of tomatoes, 1 pound of potatoes, seasonings, and 2-kg rice. No desert, no beverage, just bottled water. In July 2024 it cost the family G$5,000 (US$26). This month (January 2025), it seems they got a break, G$4,980 (US$24); the US$2 drop buys them a “jelly coconut” on a roadside stand in, say, Annandale or Soesdyke. A welcome break, but still higher than the G$2,450 (US$20) it cost the family back in May 2023.

Here are some points to keep in mind, based on this background and the SN surveys:

1. The average working family — not that minority who frequent KFC and Chuck E. Cheese — cannot afford a whole chicken most days of the week, as US$20-US$25 is a large claim on the average daily wage with other pressing expenses to cover.
2. There are big differences in prices not only within a locality/region but also across locality/region.

So, low- and middle-income households, the vast majority, not only have to keep up the tradition of watching their spending very carefully (and perhaps grow a kitchen garden), but also consume less, nutritionally speaking. One interviewee (SN, Jan 20, 2025) says, “When I do buy a piece of fish, I have to stretch it to do for the next day.” Granted, people may not be starving, going to bed hungry in Guyana, but they may be undernourished if the austerity is widespread. That’s a big difference: a country will never develop with undernourished babies, children and working-age adults. So policymakers need to know if the problem is isolated or prevalent.

Other points for the attention, directed to the Guyana Bureau of Statistics (BoS) and adding to the concerns that Ramesh Gampat raised in his letter, “Stats Bureau is not delivering on its mission”, SN Jan 21, 2025.

1. Given such a wide variance in prices, why doesn’t the BoS survey cover all regions for a comprehensive measure of the CPI (consumer price index)? The Central Statistical Office (CSO) of Trinidad and Tobago follows this methodology; so does Jamaica.

2. The fluctuations in food prices are due to many causes, but I suspect a major one is the unstable supply, which tends to result in “famine and plenty”. This is a bigger and separate issue that would take us into production and marketing conditions, so I won’t get into that here.

3. When last did the BoS revise the weights of the CPI basket and why doesn’t it publish them, as does the CSO in Trinidad.

I would hope the BoS respond to these questions, and that SN continues the surveys, if only to provide a human context to the official CPI (and its components) and how widespread may be the problem. The CPI is a very important piece of economic data and public confidence in it is essential, not the least for policymakers.

Yours faithfully, Terence M. Yhip