Latest update September 18th, 2026 10:25 AM
Food prices fuel Guyana’s inflation
…as IDB flags 5.9% surge
(Kaieteur News) – Food prices remain a major driver of inflation in Guyana, with the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) reporting a 5.9 percent increase in food prices in early 2026.
In its Caribbean Economics Quarterly: Volume 16, Issue 2 – Fiscal Resilience, Debt Reduction, and Domestic Resource Mobilisation in the Caribbean, the IDB reported that Guyana’s inflation stood at 2.9 percent year-over-year at the end of 2025.
It adds that while costs of miscellaneous items rose markedly during the period, it stated that the average consumer price level was underpinned by a further increase in the price of food, which the report says “has had the greatest impact on inflation.” Food prices in 2025 rose by 4.4 percent, medical care by 4.9 percent, and miscellaneous items by 6.8 percent.
Inflation Disaggregation
However, for 2026, IDB noted that the latest data show that inflation pressure eased this year, prior to the ramp-up in international oil prices.
“In February 2026, Guyana’s year-over-year inflation rate was 2.6 percent, again underpinned by higher food prices, which rose by 5.9 percent, but with headline price growth curtailed marginally owing to lower prices for education and transport and communication compared to the same month in 2025,” the report states.
Recently, President Irfaan Ali at a recent press conference said changing lifestyles and consumer habits are also contributing to the country’s high cost of living.
Kaieteur News reported the President said he can cite hundreds of measures that have already been implemented by his administration to address the issue which persists beyond the control of government. He said for instance the global environment and imported inflation affects the country and consumers. Offering one example, the President explained that while the country produces crude oil, it imports all refined products such as gasoline, diesel and cooking gas, meaning these items are more expensive due to imported market costs.
Additionally, he highlighted that tensions in the Middle East have resulted in increased cost for pharmaceuticals as well as fertilisers, which have an effect on food prices.
To this end, he suggested, “We have to also change our eating pattern in the country and that is something we have to address. More persons today are shopping in the supermarket, than were shopping in the supermarket four years ago.”
He continued, “If you look at the margins in the supermarket you will see that the margins are far different than the margin in the normal market. So that’s a cultural issue that has come upon us that needs to be addressed.”
Ali cautioned that the profit margins in supermarkets are significantly higher due to rent and air conditioning in some cases.
Additionally, he observed, “People are eating out more than they were eating out four years ago. The average family is visiting a restaurant more than they were doing four years ago. That is also an issue. More people are cooking less at home than they were cooking four years ago.”
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