20% rebate on food items gets thumbs up from T&T consumers

An opinion poll by the North American Caribbean Teachers Association (NACTA) has concluded that there was overwhelming endorsement for the Trinidad  & Tobago government’s 20 per cent discount on oil, flour, and rice produced by the state-owned National Flour Mills. The discounts were allowed for the two days preceding Christmas.

NACTA siad it surveyed 602 persons reflecting the country's demographics beginning December 22 and found that people of all backgrounds and political affiliation liked the idea of the Christmas gift from the state.

The agency said there was almost unanimous support for it to be extended. NACTA said few people opposed the idea but the majority praised and thanked the politicians responsible -  Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar, Trade Minister Vasanth Bharath, and Food Production Minister Devant Maharaj. 

Consumers said they bought extra supplies for Christmas and the New Year as a result of the discounted prices.

NACTA revealed some of the popular responses from the poorer people:

• “The Prime Minister is very kind and generous”
• “We much appreciate it” 
• “It is in keeping with the Christmas spirit”
• “Kamla cares for the poor”
• “It couldn’t come at a better time” 
• “It should have been done a long time ago as the PP promised low food costs in its manifesto”.

Despite that some respondents felt that the gift was late and that they did not have spare resources to acquire more of the staple goods because they had already done their shopping for the season, NACTA said.

The agency said business people also complained that they did not have enough time to make the adjustment to the prices and said they would have preferred if the government had consulted them before making the announcement of the Christmas discount. Some supermarkets reported that they quickly ran out of stock.

NACTA said only six per cent of the people surveyed opposed the idea of the subsidy, which translates to an overwhelming support for the idea.

The Prime Minister announced the discount as a Christmas gift to the nation as part of her government's policy of cutting food costs. The plan was for food stores to give consumers the 20% discount on the specific items and the government would rebate the businesses the 20% on the items.