IN COUNTRIES all over the world, the cost of living is currently a huge political issue.
In the UK, there is widespread alarm over what has been dubbed 'the cost-of-living crisis,' which has seen high inflation and tax increases outstrip wage increases, leading to squeezed incomes and greater poverty.
In the US, there are similar concerns, with inflation there hitting a 40-year high. In France, as President Emmanuel Macron seeks to hold on to office, purchasing power has become a defining issue in the campaign.
Yet for some reason, in this country, when it comes to assessing our overall economic position, inadequate attention is paid to this key issue. Instead, officials frequently regale citizens with piecemeal economic statistics that do not capture the full complexity of the overall picture.
We do not seem to be very good at tracking the full, composite situation when it comes to the array of costs that have a direct bearing on the pockets of ordinary citizens. While we focus on employment levels, little attention is paid to 'real' incomes.
For example, we hear a lot about the cost of food and fuel, but not enough attention is paid to fluctuations in the cost of goods and services more generally, such as housing, healthcare, education and debt-financing.
There is very little concession to the fact that some of the available grants provided by the State to vulnerable groups do not go nearly far enough to reflect the full extent of everyday expenses.
Where the cost of living is explicitly reflected, such as through cost-of-living allowances, such allowances are often tokenistic, with very little to suggest there is a real or responsive relationship between these measures and the actual changes in purchasing power that people experience.
A part of the problem is certainly a lack of updated statistics. Another part is a lack of basic information.
Last month, the Prime Minister said the Ministry of Finance would address the country on the path forward in light of the removal of covid19 restrictions. And yet we have heard very little by way of plans to address key price increases or to revitalise and restructure the economy.
A good example came on Wednesday, when Finance Minister Colm Imbert addressed a political rally in Diego Martin, making heavy weather of increases in this country's GDP. Such increases are a good sign, but are often more likely linked to global commodity-price fluctuations.
Moreover, GDP levels can mask deep-seated income disparities that have more bearing on society.
Government has moved to start wage negotiations for about 90,000 public servants. But without any meaningful assessment of changes in the cost of living, such negotiations are being carried out in the dark.
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