Several Barbadian pensioners say Government’s proposed $100 monthly pension increase, though welcomed, will provide only minimal relief as rising food prices, high utility bills and mounting medical costs continue to erode their fixed incomes.
The increase, announced by Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley at the Barbados Labour Party manifesto launch at Golden Square Freedom Park, amounts to about $1 200 per year. However, pensioners say the additional funds would be quickly absorbed by basic living expenses, including what some described as the $45 added to water bills as part of the Garbage And Sewage Levy.
Speaking last Thursday, septuagenarian David King questioned the timing and intent of the proposal.
“It should have been done before. Right now, giving me $100 is telling me that’s only [political] strategy. People hungry. When you go in the supermarket, you seeing $300, $400, $500 gone just like that. It is not enough,” King lamented.
No significant ease
Similarly, 68-year-old retiree Marcia Hollingsworth said the increase would help “a little”, but would not significantly ease the financial pressure she and others faced. She added that she would prefer to receive the money as a lump sum rather than monthly.
“One hundred dollars goes fast. Even $100 000 would go fast these days,” she said. Hollingsworth estimated her monthly supermarket bill at between $400 and $500, despite cutting out nonessential items and spacing purchases, such as vegetables, to every two weeks.
Priority over food
“You have to do a lot of manoeuvring just to make ends meet,” she said, adding that medical expenses often took priority over food. “Sometimes my medication alone is nearly $300 a month.
So, you could decide, this $100 is going towards medicine instead of food,” Hollingsworth said. Another pensioner, who identified herself only as Ms Mayers, said frequent price increases in supermarkets were steadily eroding the value of any pension adjustment.
She recalled that in the week before Christmas, a pack of coffee increased by almost $1 to $9 plus, and by Christmas week had risen again.
“It was $11.15 and that is only one item,” she said.
Ms Mayers, who shops weekly, said even small increases added up quickly.
“If your bill going over by $50 a week, that is $200 for the month already. And you ain’t even touch utilities yet. That $100 is going straight through the window,” she said, adding, “But I thankful for it because it might still go somewhere.”
Seventy-seven-year-old Brian Deane said pensioners were forced to adjust to whatever they received.
“You can’t dictate expenditure. You have to think of necessity and live with what is there.
Money is never enough, especially with the cost of living today,” he said.
Another retiree, Michael Aimey, said the increase would not solve the problem but could still help with essentials. “I could still do something like buy some gas, buy some groceries, pay a bill,” he said, noting that his medication costs close to $60 a month. One pensioner, who asked to remain anonymous, said the increase would make little difference to retirees managing serious health expenses. Although his pension was almost $3 000 a month, he said it did not stretch far. “Some doctors charging $400, supermarket bills alone now exceed $700 monthly, leaving little room for other essentials,” he said.
“That $1 200 a year could go on glasses alone. That ain’t food, that ain’t clothes, that ain’t gas,” he added. (TRY)
