THE EDITOR: The increase in food prices is a phenomena that has been taking place even before the pandemic.
Sometimes a country's food import bill can be a key indicator of its wealth since imported items are usually those impossible to produce locally or that are not economically feasible to produce.
If the food import bill is constantly high it means people have enough money to make these purchases often enough for the local supplier to be motivated to continue importing them.
What I am trying to say is this: Trinis are the makers of their own destiny. They always have a choice to buy local and, more importantly, to buy within their means.
If there is no demand for foreign food and household items, eventually the import bill will go down and consequently, prices will also go down.
But if demand remains high, businessmen will continue to raise their prices knowing that the people who really have the power the bring down prices, the consumers, are willing to spend money they clearly have.
Supply and demand economics isn't really all that hard to work out.
Buying local will save forex, create jobs and stimulate the non-energy sector. I mean, must you absolutely have imported lettuce in your sandwich?
STEPHEN LOCH
San Fernando
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