FOUR YEARS after the Democratic Labour Party (DLP) took office pledging to make the rising cost of living its priority Nos. 1, 2 and 3, it remains the No. 1 concern for Barbadians.
Results of the latest CADRES survey show that voters in the upcoming general election also have issues of unemployment and the economy foremost on their minds.
But with the Central Bank reporting that the domestic rate of inflation climbed from an average 3.7 per cent in 2009 to 9.4 per cent in 2011, the biggest hue and cry is still over the skyrocketing cost of goods and services, as Barbadians are made to feel the burn of rising oil and food prices.
The majority of respondents (37.4 per cent) have therefore singled out the cost of living as the biggest bugbear for them. Twinned with the current and unmistakable inflationary pressure that has hit consumers’ pockets is rising unemployment, which averaged 11.2 per cent last year.
Read the full story in today’s SUNDAY SUN.
