— Gov’t examining consumer habits, fuel security and direct farmer-to-consumer access as part of a multi-dimensional response
— President Ali says

PRESIDENT Dr Irfaan Ali says the rising cost-of-living pressures must be tackled through a holistic, structural approach that goes beyond grants and financial assistance, with Government examining changing consumer habits, food prices, market margins and the country’s exposure to global shocks.
Speaking at a Tuesday press conference, Ali said grants remain important for supporting vulnerable households and supplementing family incomes but cannot by themselves resolve the underlying factors driving the cost of living.
“Grants are there to support different levels of vulnerability and to support injection for family income. We have to address it in a structural way,” he said, adding, “What is happening between the farmer and the retailer? What is happening in terms of the input costs? What is happening in terms of the input costs for the farmers? How do we address that? We’ve already removed the VAT, removed all taxes to help reduce that input cost. We’ve given subsidies to the farmers, so we have exhausted almost every policy tool to support the cost of production.”
IMPORTED INFLATION
He pointed to the need for Guyana to establish a refinery and expand its fuel storage capacity as part of efforts to strengthen the country’s energy security and protect consumers from global price shocks.
Dr Ali said that while Guyana is now a major crude oil producer, the country continues to import refined petroleum products, leaving it exposed to international price movements.
“I can go through hundreds of measures that we have already implemented,” the President said, while acknowledging that some factors affecting prices are beyond the Government’s control. “Now, there are certain things that we don’t have control over: the global environment and imported inflation.”
He noted that Guyana produces crude oil but imports refined products, including gasoline, meaning international developments continue to influence domestic prices.
“So, we import back all the price differentials. Since the war, you know what has been happening. That is why I believe that we have to have a refinery. We cannot have crude oil and not have security of supply; security brings with it stability, and gives us some shield against shocks that currently exist,” he said.
According to the President, a refinery would not only improve Guyana’s security of supply but could also provide greater stability and some protection against external shocks.
“There are interests in the refinery, and we’re hoping that we can have investment in that refinery, and that refinery can be linked to what a national company can look like — not as an investor, but a company that looks holistically at the entire ecosystem in terms of the supply,” he said.
He added that consideration is also being given to how a refinery could be linked to a national oil company that takes a broader view of Guyana’s fuel supply ecosystem.
The President also highlighted storage capacity as another area requiring attention, questioning whether Guyana should have 30, 90 or 120 days of fuel reserves.
“There is also the issue of how we increase our security in terms of storage, whether you have 30-day storage, 90-day storage or 120-day storage, because that is a major problem,” Ali said. “If our storage remains where it is, then it’s not matching the development aspirations of our country.”
CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR
The President also pointed to changing consumer behaviour as another factor influencing household expenditure, noting that more Guyanese are shopping in supermarkets and eating outside the home than they did four years ago.
He noted that while households globally face higher prices, Guyanese families have been shielded from these adverse impacts, as government policies have led to the reduction of taxes, expanded social support and cost-of-living relief measures, including lower utility and fuel prices.
He said the shift from traditional markets to supermarkets has implications for prices, as supermarkets operate with higher overheads and therefore different profit margins.
“The same person who was buying sweet potato, cassava and plantain in the market is now buying it in the supermarket, and there’s a whole different margin of profit because, of course, they have higher overheads,” he said.
President Ali also noted that more families are visiting restaurants and cooking less at home, describing the changing shopping and eating patterns as issues that need to be addressed.
Against this backdrop, he said Government may need to explore ways of bringing consumers and farmers closer together.
“We may need to look at the creation of farmers’ markets across the country as a prominent part of our buying ecosystem, so that farmers have direct access to the market,” Ali said.
Notably, Guyanese families would be under greater financial pressure had the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) administration not removed the more than 200 taxes and onerous measures introduced by the former APNU+AFC administration during its time in government, from 2015 to 2020.
Direct financial support and subsidies extended by the government to ordinary citizens include the newborn cash grant and the “Because We Care” cash grant. Farmers have also benefited from numerous measures, including fertiliser subsidies, removal of drainage and irrigation (D&I) rates and expansion of D&I services, which have saved them from flooding, increased productivity and provided a subsidy on every bag of paddy produced.
Other initiatives to cushion the cost of living and assist families include textbooks for school children, the school feeding programme, the transportation grant for children, the uniform grant, no increase in the cost of electricity, a five per cent reduction in the cost of water, the removal of Value-Added Tax (VAT) on electricity and water charges, and subsidies to local fisherfolk.