And for Meggs, while her surgery will cost a few thousands of dollars, it is compounded by the basic supplies she still needs to survive. And she and every other Belizean is feeling the pinch, or the stab of inflation.
At the end of last month, we told you that the Minister of Agriculture, Jose Mai, met with the retailers from the Chinese community to try to find a solution to the problem as well as to mitigate price gouging. But it doesn't end there, as now the ministry will need to speak with the importers. Today Mai gave us an update on their work to ease the "haad times" Belizeans are living in, including getting the public officers on board.
Jose Mai, Minister of Agriculture
"We met with the Chinese communities, a lot of them are retailers and wholesalers but they are not importers, the majority of the importers are the Indians, we refer to them as the Hindus, they are the larger importers. Now, it's easy to pass the buck and say, oh, I am not gouging, I am just reacting to the price I'm being sold and so they are saying we need to meet with the importers and that is exactly what our team is doing this week. They are planning a meeting with the importers, one, and two, on Monday, my CEO and the director of Supplies Control is meeting with the public service because they were the one who requested to be included and expressed desire to help in trying to curve the supposed gouging and so we will meet on Monday to plan how we move with that and plan even the training of the public servants who will be policing the stores."
