EDITOR, The Tribune.

A prominent Grand Bahamian fisherman informed me today that he saw a 10 pound bag of chicken wings going for $35 minus VAT in a major grocery store.

At the 10 percent rate, that price goes up to over $38. Chicken wings are now a delicacy dish for struggling Bahamians. On Easter Monday I saw in a local convenience store a carton of eggs priced at nearly $11.

Government officials and Bahamian economists are blaming the Russian/Ukrainian War for the current inflation in over the counter medicine, food and oil prices.

The current inflation crisis brought to mind a 1996 Freeport News Winn Dixie ad I saw posted on a business establishment in Freeport. The ad was a reminder of how affordable the cost of living was in the mid nineties. The ad was published around March 1996.

Bill Clinton was US president and Hubert Ingraham was serving his first term as prime minister of The Bahamas. Sir Lynden O Pindling was still Progressive Liberal Party leader and Senator Bob Dole was frontrunner for the Republican Party presidential nomination. That was when a gallon of gasoline was around $2.30; a two-piece KFC combo meal in Freeport was just under $4 and a conch was $1 each.

I recall the furor among irate Grand Bahamians when the Ingraham government decided to grant fishermen their request to increase the price of conch to $1.50.

Concerning the Winn Dixie ad, it had a 16 ounce package of bacon at $1.68; steak at $5.98 per pound; hot and mild Italian sausage at $1.38 per pound; skinned Grouper at $3.68 per pound; lamb chops at $1.10 per pound; Butterball turkey at $1.48 per pound; ground beef at $1.38; cheddar cheese at $1.68 per pound; boneless rib roast at $1.98 per pound; smoked ham at $1.38 and picnic ham at .98 cents.

If I had HG Wells’ time machine, I would travel back in time to the nineties in order to purchase the aforementioned items -- which are much lower than items on sale today in the grocery stores. I truly miss the Winn Dixie days when $100 could overfill a trolley with groceries.

KEVIN EVANS

Freeport,

Grand Bahama

April 20, 2022.