Owing to a number of external and internal factors, including intense rainfall and the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, Guyana saw food prices rising by some 11.6% in 2021 according to Senior Minister with responsibility for Finance, Dr Ashni Singh.
Singh made the revelation during the presentation of the 2022 budget in the National Assembly yesterday. This is the first time, since food prices began their steep rise, that the government is releasing the actual figures. The Bureau of Statistics had previously released figures but did not publish the numbers for the entire 2021.
“The immediate aftermath of the flood resulted in a sharp spike in prices, but as production returned to some normalcy, some amount of reversion was observed in the latter months of last year, leading to a 12-month inflation rate of 5.7% in December 2021. This reflected higher food prices, which rose by 11.6% and contributed 5 percentage points to the inflation rate,” he told the House.
