Family shopping basket “skyrocketing” and a people asking for promises to be kept

Santo Domingo – Housewives struggle with the high costs of the family basket because they say that sometimes they must borrow money to subsidize household needs, this in relation to the statements of Luis Abinader, where he said that the Dominican Republic is the third country with the cheapest basic food basket in Central America and the Caribbean.

`In a tour made by reporters of Listin Diario through the markets of La Duarte and Villa Consuelo, in addition to visiting some sectors of the National District, where housewives say they feel abandoned by the government due to promises about lowering the cost of the family basket.

Clara Arias, 73 years old, said that the price of the family basket has raised its cost and because of her health situation this does not allow her to feed herself as she requires despite having the help of her children with the purchase of her medicines.

“The cost of the family basket is skyrocketing, I have no husband and I live alone; I am diabetic, hypertensive and the little that my children give me, which is RD $10,000 biweekly, does not give me enough for anything, and my son buys my medicines. I thought that this president was going to do something for us, the elderly, but he has done nothing, let him go to the neighborhoods to see the elderly in the streets without breakfast,” expressed Arias, showing her annoyance for the unfulfilled promises.

Another housewife is Pamela Guante, mother of four children, who has little budget to subsidize the needs of her little ones despite having the help of the children’s parents.

“Everything is expensive, before with RD$500 you could buy everything, now you can’t buy anything, in my house there are five of us and I earn RD$12,000 working in a bank, plus the children’s parents help me with RD$3,000 and it doesn’t give me anything with four children,” said Guante, indignant for not having enough money for her children’s expenses.

La Duarte New Market
Víctor Méndez said that his household is supplied every two weeks, and the basic family basket is at high prices. “Every two weeks I make a purchase of RD$13,000 to RD$15,000 in basics. All the mass consumption products are going up and they don’t stop going up; what I go home for breakfast and dinner because I eat at work,” assured Méndez, who is a merchant in the market.

In a heated discussion, the consumers expressed their opinion about the cost of food and the salaries of Dominican families who have to borrow money to make ends meet.

Villa Consuelo Market
Mayra Ortíz, who was buying the ingredients for the food, said that her budget for everyday purchases is not enough and she only buys a few things to support herself with the things she has left over from the week.

“Prices are very high, I come to buy with RD$1,000 and I leave with practically nothing and in my house there are only three of us. I bought RD$400 of chicken, two or three things and now the money is gone; the president should help us, the money is not enough for anything,” said Ortíz, looking at her plastic bag where she was carrying the few ingredients for what she could afford.

Likewise, María Dolores Martínez, said indignantly that the aid from the Supérate card is not enough to cover the meals of a Dominican family. “The cost of the family basket is very high, in my house we are five people and advances the money does not give; the president what he should raise the aid of the card because RD$1,600 does not give for nothing, it goes in a day of food for people who do not eat much, but not for a family with several children,” said Martinez, annoyed for not having the aid.

Recall that President Luis Abinader expressed in La Semanal from New York that the Dominican Republic’s family basket is the third cheapest in Central America and the Caribbean; this despite the impact of global inflation in the country.

“We were the third most expensive about six years ago and there is the data. These are not our data, they are from the consumer control agency; of course, there has been inflation, prices have gone up all over the world, they have gone up here in the United States,” said the President.

In response to the statements of the head of state, the presidential aspirant of the Dominican Liberation Party (PLD), Francisco Javier García, said that he regrets that Abinader has not visited the food sales center to support his statement.

The member of the PLD Political Committee said that the reality of the prices of basic products are “unattainable” for the citizens, “I suggest that he not be carried away by the officials who tell him that,” he added.

Garcia said that his approach is based on information provided by the press where official data from the Ministry of Economy, Planning and Development (Mepyd) is released, where it was made known that at the national level the basic food basket stands at RD$45,494.6.

“He considered that the president should make sporadic visits to establishments where food is sold to avoid being deceived by his own officials,” he said.