The head of the Supermarket Association (SATT) Rajiv Diptee is warning that the fuel price increase set for April 19 “will affect everything.”
Diptee, in a Newsday interview, said, “Raising the price of fuel directly affects the cost of living. Everything will be affected.”
Diptee said food suppliers will have to make an assessment before they implement the necessary adjustments, adding, “That pertains to marketing, operations, transport and then they will formally notify the stores of the adjustment in pricing that will come. This will differ from supplier to supplier, supermarket to supermarket.”
He said the timing of the increase in fuel prices is ill-advised and a bit insensitive.
“When you consider that the economy has just reopened fully, when you consider school is just about to start back. So we would have a population that hasn’t been able to recover their income, they are already in an impoverished state and they haven’t had that time to really catch themselves.”
According to Diptee, the customer would now have less in their pockets to spend because the percentage they would have had, where disposable income is concerned, will shrink further due to the increase in the price of fuel which is a necessary component for the movement of goods and services.
He said even though the cost of diesel increased by a mere $0.50 there will still be a direct and indirect impact on operational costs.
COMMENTS