10% increase in food but the government isn’t moved

 

Statement by AKEL C.C. Spokesperson Giorgos Koukoumas

8 September 2023, AKEL C.C. Press Office, Nicosia

Increases in food and other basic goods have reached 10%, but the government does not seem to be moved. We hope that it will not suggest to citizens to cut down on food, as we were told – in the middle of a heatwave – to do so with air conditioners and electricity. All this is in addition to the increases and the expensiveness that is sweeping across society. In the price of electricity, fuel, rents and in the successive increases in interest rates that are exerting enormous pressure on the vast majority of society.

However, to date, not only has the government not presented any plan to curb expensiveness and high prices, but even the measures that existed – on electricity and fuel – have been terminated.

AKEL proposes and demands two immediate and fully implementable measures that can provide relief for households, young couples and small businesses. Firstly, to reinstate the support measures for electricity and fuel and secondly, to subsidise the interest rate on mortgages for middle and low-income groups.

These both measures must and indeed can be done. They can be implemented, on the one hand, by using part of the increased state revenues stemming from the increases that people are paying twice for. On the other hand, with the revenues from the taxation of the exorbitant profits of the banks, something that AKEL has long been calling for and which is already being applied in other European states.

The Christodoulides government must stop issuing statements expressing sympathy and understanding, but proceed to provide concrete solutions.