POVERTY is at its worst level in at least four decades in Trinidad and Tobago.
More people are seeing trouble in putting food on the table and taking care of their health than at any time since the austerity years of the 1980s.
Citizens continue to slip under the poverty line, with the cost of food rising by as much as 100 per cent since 2016, and by 8.6 per cent over the past year alone.
There have been several increases in the prices of food staples because of international supply chain problems, climate change, hoarding, and the Russia-Ukraine war.
The cost of transportation has gone up by 45 per cent in recent times, according to official figures, partly as a result of five hikes in the cost of fuel, and poor road conditions.
The cost of healthcare has increased by 38 per cent, with more people being forced to access private medical attention as a result of the inefficient public health sector.
The monopoly in the importation of pharmaceuticals has also led to higher costs of medicine, which has severely impacted senior citizens, many of whom get by on monthly pensions.
The cost of rent and other aspects of accommodation have climbed by 11 per cent.
Parents are facing higher costs of books, uniforms, and other essentials with the start of the new school term.
Several families are openly pleading for financial assistance in order to send their children to school.
Many vendors and others in the informal sector have suffered badly as a result of the crime crisis, with severe cutbacks in operating hours and reduced consumer patronage.
The high cost of fuel and crime at sea and on land have had the effect of sending up the retail prices of fish.
Low and unskilled workers have been thrown on the breadline because of limited consumer spending and the public’s fear of venturing into previously busy shopping streets and shopping malls.
Most malls have large areas of floor space for rent at peppercorn rates.
Small businesses have been rocked by crime security costs, the impact of economies of scale, high bank charges, and reduced sales.
It is estimated that 6,000 small businesses have shut up shop since the Covid-19 pandemic.
Businesses are fleeing urban areas, especially the capital city of Port of Spain.
City business leader Gregory Aboud has admitted that the crime epidemic is “destroying consumer confidence” and “stagnating investor confidence.”
Sources at financial institutions have revealed that entrepreneurs are reluctant to invest locally.
There has also been a flight of foreign direct investments, which has sent up the unemployment rate and tightened the availability of foreign exchange.
The downward spiral fed by crime and the declining economy has seen jobless figures increase among single mothers and other minimum-wage workers.
Yet the Government has been insisting that there is full employment.
The minimum wage of $17.50 an hour — $2,800 a month for full-time employees – was introduced in 2019 but since then the cost of living has raced off.
The labour sector is agitating for a $30 an hour minimum wage but economists are pushing back, stating that the increase would send up the cost of living.
Charity organisations and such institutions as the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) have reported hunger – even starvation – in families who are unable to consistently afford nutritious meals.
An international group called The Borgen Project has reported that there is a “staggering” level of child poverty, which can “negatively impact a variety of facets in a child’s life, including access to quality education.”
The World Bank has defined poverty as a daily income of under US $1.90 (around TT $12.70) a day, but that sum cannot afford a single meal.
The Ministry of Social Development and Family Services was allocated $6.2 billion for the current fiscal year but it is not known how many poor people have benefitted.
The poverty emergency has led to many more people begging on the streets.
In a stirring editorial, the Express newspaper said that “the explosion of beggars and homeless people in public places across the country tells a very different story about the state of the economy from that presented by Government officials.”
The newspaper noted that people are begging “along the highways and byways, in mall car parks, outside supermarkets, and banks.”
The Government has not announced any direct measures to help the poor and suffering, who are unable to eat well, access health care, and properly take care of their children.
