EDITOR, The Tribune.
As a mother of two children, married for eight years, and a working Bahamian who is doing her best to make ends meet, I am writing to express my deep concern over the unbearable cost of living in The Bahamas. Like many families in this country, my husband and I both work full-time jobs that pay above minimum wage, yet we are still living pay cheque to pay cheque. We are not living beyond our means and we are not spending frivolously. We live modestly, making every effort to stay within our budget. Yet, the reality is that the cost of living in this country is far too high for the average Bahamian family to live comfortably and with dignity.
As we enter 2025, I believe that the government’s most urgent priority must be addressing the skyrocketing cost of living. As a concerned citizen and voter, I am looking to see what the government will do to ease the financial burden on the middle class. This issue goes far beyond simply reducing taxes. The problem is much larger and more complex.
For starters, the prices at local stores for basic necessities, especially food items, are unaffordable for many families. The high cost of groceries makes it increasingly difficult for families to feed themselves properly. But it doesn’t end there. The cost of construction is prohibitive, making homeownership a distant dream for many Bahamians. Even renting a home has become an insurmountable challenge for the average person.
Additionally, local banks have tightened their lending policies, making it harder for working Bahamians to access credit, whether for a home, a business, or even just to handle an emergency. Meanwhile, major companies in this country are reporting record profits year after year, on the backs of ordinary Bahamians who are already struggling to make ends meet.
The government must take a stand on behalf of the people and push for real, substantive change to lower the cost of living across the country. This is not just about reducing taxes, though that may be part of the solution. We need to see significant reductions in the prices of food, transportation, gas, electricity, medical bills, and the cost of borrowing.
The PLP likes to boast that it was instrumental in building the Bahamian middle class. But now, in 2025, it is time for the government to fight for its survival. The middle class is struggling, and if this trend continues, we risk seeing an even greater divide between the wealthy and the rest of the population. It is no longer enough to simply talk about progress; it’s time to deliver real solutions that make life more affordable for the hardworking citizens of The Bahamas.
As a mother, a wife, and a Bahamian citizen, I am calling on the government to take immediate and decisive action to ease the burden on middle-class families. We deserve to live with dignity, and the government must fight on our behalf to ensure that this becomes a reality.
A Bahamian Mother
January 1, 2025.
Comments
ohdrap4 5 days, 22 hours ago
A marginal decrease in customs duty will not significantly reduce the local price of any food item. The price the merchant pays abroad, plus the overseas shipping, plus the local brokerage and delivery keep going up and are ultimately charged to you and me.
The largest impact would be to make bread basket items vat free, then increasing the overall vat on anything else.
What can we do to lower our costs without the govt?
we are lucky to have price control. use the list to cook your own food based on items on this list.
give up sweet drinks such as juices and sodas as they have high fructose corn syrup and cause fatty liver, same with jams. Make your own iced tea with real sugar.
buy some ceramic dishes which are always on sale on christmas and mothers day and stop buying paper products
give up potato chips and dry cereal, very unhealthy and extremely expensive. just go cold turkey.
learn to mend or sew your own clothes from you tube.
this is the best we can do,as the duty on baking powder was lowered to 5% but no one eats baking powder out of a jar.
Porcupine 5 days, 21 hours ago
Theft, government corruption, low worker productivity, regressive taxation, lack of educated politicians, managerial incompetence, dishonesty, unreliable infrastructure and a whole host of other social issues as well as legacy loans for which the Bahamian people will be paying for generations, amounting to interest payments of a million dollars a day for the loans already spent. The honest and real answer to the Bahamian mother would be to leave. Sorry, but if anyone sees The Bahamas solving any of these problems in the next 2 or 3 generations, please tell everyone so we can all get on board.
ohdrap4 5 days, 21 hours ago
Leave. But where? Since the cough, EU, US, Canadakistan, Australia even would be terrible places to go. You would not afford rent there either. Or food. Only Africa left.
birdiestrachan 5 days, 17 hours ago
The cost of living is universal and not Bahamian perhaps the shipping company who can increase their rates if their profit go below 10 percent. It affects the cost of everything
birdiestrachan 5 days, 17 hours ago
The shipping families can decrease their profit . They do not have to go to the government to ask for increases The Fnm papa did that for them
DWW 1 day, 17 hours ago
No it is the taxes, fees and custom broker fees etc. that contribute to the high cost. The actually cost of shipping is low compared to all the other costs involved but that would be too difficult to scapegoat.
Proguing 5 days, 5 hours ago
This is the result of Biden's inflation. Americans complain just as much, which is why the Democrats suffered a historic defeat in the recent elections.
DWW 1 day, 17 hours ago
actually Trump started the printing of massive amounts of paper money. almost every single govt in the world went into a printing frenzy. pinning it on Biden is disingenuous at best.
JokeyJack 5 days, 3 hours ago
Prices are NOT high enough. Bahamians LOVE high prices and potholes and will put the FNM or PLP back in power next time. Many will stay home and not vote and then claim it's not their fault.
DWW 1 day, 17 hours ago
jokes for days...
professionalbahamian 5 days, 3 hours ago
How about the government run its own shipping company and import products , food to start, in competition with the private sector? Let’s see what the cost of an imported product should be. Competition is lacking.
Also eliminate VAT on health, life, and home insurance!
DWW 1 day, 17 hours ago
If you ever looked at cost of shipping in detail - it is all the extra fees and red tape that cause the expenses not the actual ship itself. last time i imported something the govt fees and taxes and the required customs broker fee was around $120 on an $80 product. the actual shipping was $21 out of that $120 bill.
joeblow 4 days, 20 hours ago
... the Bahamas is democratic in its elections, but socialist in its economic policies. People want free healthcare, free education and social service for every financial shortfall. Government borrows to give handouts; civil servants are paid far more than their productivity deserves and are given election "raises", all while government has to tax the working class to raise revenue to repeat the vicious cycle!! Why, for instance, does a person have to continue to pay taxes on property they have bought? Isn't that a tax for trying to get ahead? This is why the Bahamas has a "brain drain", sensible people don't want to live in a stifling den of corruption with a high cost of living, just to eat conch salad on the weekends!
DWW 1 day, 18 hours ago
every country in the world has property tax. almost entirely. the brian drain is not the cost of living the brains could do exceptionally well here amongst the failed highschool folks. the one who left just don't want to deal with all the other B#$@%it you have to deal with living in this country. You are conflating issues and missing the big picture perhaps?
DWW 1 day, 18 hours ago
The worlds govt's printed paper money to make up for their rampant shortfalls and borrowing which immediately created rampant inflation. wages and salaries did not increase correspondingly therefore you have exactly what happened in the late 1980s all over again and we just act like it is a big surprise. There is no easy quick fix pill for anything.
DWW 1 day, 17 hours ago
I might add that if you are earning just a little above minimum wage you in the lower class not middle. a family in the Bahamas needs to earn at least $100k per year to be middle class and afford a home. $100k per year means $8k per month or $2,000 per week household income. Average household income in the Bahamas is currently reported to be $42k per year or $800 per week which does not cut it for middle class life.
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