I certainly don’t think there is an easy answer to the question of whether or not Barbadians are living above their means.
People at the lower end of the pay scale, retirees for example, really would be having a difficult time right now buying the basics.
However, I’m of the view that there are also quite a few people who are working but maybe getting their priorities wrong and putting things like entertainment, for example, ahead of basic needs like food.
When you look around, you see the large amount of money being spent on items such as cellphones and other consumer items, and also events.
Case in point: the Reggae Shows that we had here last month – the amounts that are being spent on clothing, nails, make-up, hair and other accessories – it is obvious that there is a good set of consumers who will find the money for things that they think are important.
Hopefully those consumers are not and will not be complaining about the price of food, because I would like to think it is obvious that they are the ones who have extra money.
Let’s hope, and this is not a comfort, that the ones who are complaining are genuine; the ones who are in a difficult situation and are finding it hard to make ends meet.
Regarding whether or not anything can be done for those with what can be seen as a genuine need, I think the Ministry of Commerce has the basket of basic items which are controlled and where Government duties were removed – items like flour, rice, apples, oranges, broccoli, certain meats, macaroni and so on – to keep some of those basic items as low as possible.
What I would also say is that we could continue to encourage farmers markets similar to what we see on Cheapside and with the Barbados Association of Vendors and Entrepreneurs (BARVEN), because you still find generally that if you buy fresh vegetables, fresh fruit, that tends to be less expensive.
And again I would like to believe that people who don’t have much money, like those who are retired [or unemployed], would have a little extra time to prepare healthy meals from scratch instead of having to rely on expensive fast food.
