GOVERNMENT must intervene and save the population from paying an exorbitant price on the basic food item of flour.
This is according to Member of Parliament for Mayaro Rushton Paray.
In a statement on Wednesday, Paray said, “As the majority shareholder, the Government must instruct National Flour Mills to absorb a reasonable share of the increased wheat costs. The price benefits must be directly passed on to consumers.”
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He added, “If needed, the Government must redirect subventions from other entities onto NFM, with a directive that flour prices be appropriately readjusted to the advantage of end-users.”
Paray said NFM must also be made more efficient, even if this required an immediate change in company leadership.
His statements come after NFM announced that the price of flour was going to be increased again with the wholesale price being increased by 33 per cent and the suggestion that the retail price be increased by 28 per cent.
The MP said Government had failed to properly prepare the country for inevitable increases in food staples as with other countries.
“The full blow of the increased price would seriously hurt the small man, who has already been buckling from the continuously rising cost of other food items and from overall inflation. Such a steep price rise would also have a major multiplier effect, especially at bakeries, doubles vendors, pastry shops, with parents of school-age children and elderly pensioners,” Paray said.
He called again for more incentives towards farmers to produce more food for the local population especially with the food import bill remaining in the billion-dollar bracket.
