Govt. must stop blaming external factors for high food prices in Guyana

…APNU cites massive downward revision of key agriculture products in Mid-Year Report

(Kaieteur News) – The A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) recently flagged the jump in inflation at the mid-year mark of 2026, urging the Government of Guyana (GoG) to take responsibility for high food prices on the market and implement targeted measures to bring relief directly to citizens.

APNU MP, Juretha Fernandes

During its press conference last week, APNU Opposition Member of Parliament (MP), Juretha Fernandes pointed out that the inflation target for the year has been revised upward.  Inflation, as explained by the Bank of Guyana (BoG) is the sustained increase in the general price level of goods and services in an economy over a period of time.

Guyanese over the past weeks and months have been complaining almost daily of the struggles they face to purchase basic food items to sustain their families.

Recognising these challenges, Fernandes warned, “The inflation target had to be revised upwards because the reality as of June 20, 2026 is that inflation was over 4% but more interesting to note is that inflation of food is 6.7% with the highest percentage being allocated there under is inflation of things like vegetables.”

She argued that government often touts itself as the great “steward of the economy” during Parliamentary Sittings; however, the non-oil growth in the economy is merely “artificial” as it is driven by the oil sector, citing construction as a prime example.

To this end she explained, “So even the non-oil growth is heavily dependent and stimulated by oil resources so the government has failed tremendously…the government has failed to manage the economy in such a way that the earning that persons receive, that money cannot even sustain you on a monthly basis and that is the real question, when you look at the bread basket the consumers bread basket right now, when you look at those numbers, the economy is in a state that the ordinary Guyanese cannot survive.”

In responding to a question from this newspaper on what more needs to be done by the administration to address the issue, in light of President Irfaan Ali’s explanation that the country’s inflation was impacted by global situations such as soaring fuel prices, the party said government must take responsibility and stop shifting the blame.

The Mid-Year Report shows a downward projection in food production

Fernandes made it clear, “The President and the entire Cabinet cannot continue from 2020 to 2026 making excuses for inflation in food. From 2020, they have been coming to the National Assembly and they have been making excuses to say that it’s an external matter that we are suffering from in Guyana internally.”

She noted that while the global issues pose a challenge locally, the government cannot after six years just blame increase in food prices on external factors. In fact, she said this would be an admission on the part of government that it has failed to manage the economy.

The MP reasoned, “What you are saying as a government is that you are incapable of planning. You are incapable of planning if every year you come and you report the same thing and you use the same excuse. What else has the government done? The government has come to the National Assembly and they have said that oh we are going to be doing farm-to-market road and all of these things and we are gonna do zero excise tax on fuel.”

She said the APNU strongly advised against such measures that would rely on a trickledown effect to benefit consumers; however, the government continues with that approach.

As such, Fernandes suggested that direct injections to citizens are needed to alleviate the situation, such as the national cash grant.

“We have been saying consistently, you have to have direct injections to make sure that Guyanese are able to cope with the reality of the prices that they are facing today when it comes to their income those things are not being touched (or addressed). An 8% increase (in salaries) you are looking at and you have a 6.7% increase in food alone,” the Parliamentarian pointed out.

Delving deeper into the numbers, MP Saiku Andrews said that Guyana is often described as one of the only countries that can feed itself, yet an analysis of the Mid-Year Report shows several food production targets being revised downwards, a serious concern for the country.

He said, “agriculture, forestry, fishing has been revised (from) 7.6 to 2.9%, other crops from 9.8 to 2.1, sugar from 67.9% to 18.1%. There’s a cascading downward spiral of production activity when it comes to food in this country. That is where the real inflation in food prices comes from.”

As such, the MP strongly argued that food inflation is not imported. He said, “If inflation is imported most of the time, it would affect certain products in the food basket – the broccoli, apples and the cauliflower…but the 58% of Guyana living in poverty, they do not get a chance to buy broccoli and so the President really needs to check himself when it comes to this argument and the whole quoting of bank accounts opening as an indication of prosperity among Guyanese.”

He reminded that it was this administration that forced Guyanese to open bank accounts through a requirement for them to receive cash grants.

Source: Kaieteur News