Rising prices and the relief package

By Dr Clive Thomas

To ease the growing burden of price increases on the population, especially the poor, the government has introduced, with much fanfare, a number of measures as part of a relief package. In this week’s article I shall begin to examine this against the backdrop of both the global and local factors leading to rapid price increases, discontent, disaffection and public agitation. Let us begin by carefully detailing the relief measures.

2007 measures  

Government insists that its recently offered relief package be seen in context of efforts begun in 2007 to cope with a crisis it saw coming and, which it believes, is driven by global considerations. During 2007, the across-the-board salary increase of 9 per cent paid to public servants is considered part of the relief, even though the percentage increase was substantially less than the rate of inflation in that year.