Super Value owner Rupert Roberts expects consumers will begin to see an easing of high food prices by the second, if not first, quarter of 2023.
“Entering the first of the year, I don’t see any relief,” Roberts told The Nassau Guardian on Sunday.
“We’re going to go through the end of the year with high prices. In some cases, companies refused our orders and we had to go to another country to keep up the supply. For tomato products, we had to switch to the Philippines to keep certain products on the shelf.
“There’s no indication yet, but I think if it’s going to peak by the end of the year, by the first or second quarter, we may start getting some relief.”
Prices of other food items have soared in recent months, due in part to supply chain issues stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia’s war on Ukraine.
Roberts, who owns the biggest food store chain in The Bahamas, said the supply chain is “getting back to normal”.
He said this will alleviate the pressure on prices.
As a result, he said, prices will “level off and should eventually start coming down”.
Roberts acknowledged the burden inflation has had on Bahamians.
“I’d say they’re having a very, very difficult time,” he said.
“They have to budget and manage the best way they can but some are going to fall through the cracks and are going to have to be helped.”
Roberts estimated that the cost of food increased roughly 25 percent in the last year.
“It’s very, very difficult for the low-income earners,” he said.
Last week, the Bahamas National Statistical Institute released its latest index which showed a seven percent increase in consumer prices year over year at the end of July.
July itself represented a major increase over the previous few months with a 1.5 percent increase. This was the most significant jump month over month recorded since before January 2020, according to the report, which only goes as far back as January 2020.
Regarding the 1.5 percent increase for July 2022, when compared to June 2022, the report notes, “This July 2022 increase followed a 0.5 percent increase between the months of May and June 2022.”
A recent United Nations’ World Food Program survey revealed that many Bahamians have been forced to eat less or skip meals this year.
The Caribbean Food Security and Livelihood Survey found that, of the 734 Bahamians surveyed in February and August, 204 people worried they would not have enough food to eat.
One hundred and forty people said they went a day without eating and 166 people said there were times in the past 30 days when they were hungry but did not eat.
In his budget communication in May, Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Philip Davis announced measures intended to reduce the impact of high inflation, including pay raises for most public officers, a proposed minimum wage increase in the public sector, and a permanent increase in social assistance by 50 percent in comparison to pre-pandemic levels.
