-vendors hoping sales will pick up

AS the Christmas season approaches, market prices for ‘greens’ appear to be returning to a more affordable cost.

The Guyana Chronicle on Sunday morning visited several municipal markets and spoke with vendors who confirmed the decrease in prices for some vegetables.

Vendors usually set their prices based on how much they paid for the goods. Other factors are sometimes taken into consideration.

The price for a bundle of bora was $200 at several stalls, while the price for a piece of pumpkin varied from $340 to $460. Ochroes were priced at $200 per pound.

Speaking with this publication, one vendor who wished to remain anonymous, said, “Right now the prices are a little bit cheap, but you know the atmosphere at the market a little bit quiet. Christmas coming on, so things should pick up.”

Meanwhile, one vendor who gave her name as ‘Sharon,’ explained that because she owns her own farm, her ‘greens’ are usually sold at a stable price.

As part of efforts to reduce the high cost of living in Guyana, government had made many interventions.

Some $7.5 billion was expended on the COVID-19 cash grants. Under this programme, each household in Guyana was given a one-off grant valued at $25,000.

President, Dr Irfaan Ali had indicated in January 2022 that under the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) administration, each of the 10 administrative regions has benefitted from the programme.

He said that the programme was “…injecting critical liquidity into the economy and providing a cash lifeline to households, so many of which were thrown into distress as a result of the pandemic.”

Additionally, cash grants have been distributed to sugar workers, private cane farmers and fishermen.

Further, government distributed $1 billion in fertilisers to farmers across Guyana as a means of absorbing the rising global costs for the commodity and preventing the costs from being passed on to consumers.

“The cost of a fertiliser has affected the production cost[s] for farmers which have translated into increased prices in the markets. In order to cushion the impact of the rising cost of fertiliser on farmers, and to limit the pass-through to food prices, my government will be purchasing $1 billion dollars’ worth of fertiliser for free distribution to farmers for use in their planting activities,” President Ali had declared in May, 2022.