Dear Editor, Last Saturday, my wife purchased a particular food line which had increased by 40 cents from the last time she bought this product about two months ago. I calculated this increase to be around 3.5 per cent.

This same product was being sold around 2021 at around $2 less than the current price, i.e. the price has risen by almost 18 per cent since 2021.

Another food line she bought, is about $1.20 more than its 2021 price – an increase of almost 50 per cent.

In Cook Islands News (29 April 2024), an article quoting the Asian Development Bank’s April Outlook on Cook Islands projected the country’s growth to be the highest in the region (9.1 per cent). The inflation rate of 2.3 per cent is also predicted to be the lowest in the region in the 2024 financial year.

I understand inflation to be basically a snapshot of how much a basket of goods costs today in comparison to the same time last year. While the two examples above may be simple/biased examples of food price increases, it appears to be the same right across the board.

If one pays $7.10 for a loaf of wholemeal bread and there is an increase in price of 2.3 per cent (16.3 cents) – then how does that compare with a similar product which sells for $3.30 in New Zealand and endures an increase of four per cent -- the current inflation rate in NZ (or 13.2 cents)?

The 2.3 per cent inflation rate – I believe – is not a true reflection of the consistently high prices that Cook Islanders are paying at the shop counter, especially those living outside of Rarotonga.

A store owner told me that she is paying higher prices for her goods every time a ship comes in.

Our inflation rate is half New Zealand’s rate – how do our health services and education, and wages, compare with theirs?

Are we better off than New Zealand with its economy that is 1000 times bigger than ours, and a population that is 300 times ours? And they’ve been going through a cost-of-living crisis since last year. (Are the Kiwi tourists still going to be coming here this year)?

In Wednesday’s CI News (15 May 2024), in announcing the budget, the Cook Islands prime minister Mark Brown said “It is a good budget that we’ve put together, recognising the economic recovery but also recognising some of the challenges in the face of inflation as well as challenges in the face of debt servicing, the debt that we took out during Covid-19 to keep our economies afloat.”

At least there is one other person in the country who thinks that the low inflation rate is a challenge.

Moana Moeka’a

Ruatonga