President Irfaan Ali on Tuesday said changing shopping and eating habits, high retailer mark-ups and imported inflation were among the factors driving the cost of living, while floating permanent farmers’ markets as a means of giving consumers direct access to producers.
Speaking at a press conference, Ali said more Guyanese were now shopping at supermarkets and eating at restaurants than four years ago, resulting in them paying higher prices.
“More persons today are shopping in a supermarket than were shopping in a supermarket four years ago,” he said. “If you look at the margins in the supermarket, you will see that the margins are far different from the margins in the normal market.”
According to Ali, consumers who previously purchased sweet potatoes, cassava and plantains at municipal and community markets were now buying the same produce from supermarkets, where prices reflected higher overheads, including electricity, air conditioning and rent.
“So that’s a cultural issue that has come upon us that needs to be addressed,” he said.
The President also pointed to an increase in dining out, saying the average family was visiting restaurants more frequently and cooking less at home than four years ago.
“That is also an issue,” he said. “More people are cooking less at home than they were cooking four years ago. So that’s another issue that we have to address.”
Ali also accused retailers of applying “exorbitant” profit margins to produce bought from farmers.
He said farmers were reporting that plantains and other produce sold at the wholesale market for one price were reaching consumers at multiples of that amount.
“We may need to look at the creation of farmers’ markets across the country as a permanent part of our buying ecosystem so that farmers have direct access to the market,” Ali said.
The President began his response by saying he could identify “hundreds of measures” already introduced by the government to ease the cost-of-living burden. However, he argued that some pressures were beyond Guyana’s control, including imported inflation and instability in the global economy.
In its Consumer Price Index, Georgetown, Guyana: January 2026 report the Bureau of Statistics reported that the Georgetown Consumer Price Index rose by 3.5% in the 12 months to January 2026, with food prices increasing by 6.7%. Vegetables and vegetable products rose by 4.2% in January alone, while prepared meals and refreshments increased by 1.8%.
By May, the index had risen by 2.4% in a single month.
Ali said that although Guyana produces crude oil, it imports all of its refined petroleum products and is therefore exposed to international price fluctuations.
“We produce crude oil, but we import all refined oil—our gas and everything. So we import back all the price differentials,” he said.
The President argued that Guyana needed a refinery to provide security of supply and some protection against external price shocks.
“We cannot have crude oil and don’t have security of supply,” he said. “Security brings with it stability and then gives us some shield against shocks that are currently existing.”
Ali said there was private-sector interest in building a refinery and expressed hope that an investment would materialise. He suggested that the facility could be linked to a national oil company, although he said such a company would not necessarily be an investor.
Instead, he envisaged it having oversight of the wider supply system, including refining, trading and fuel storage.
Ali said the country also needed to examine whether it should maintain reserves sufficient for 30, 90 or 120 days.
“If our storage remains where it is, then it’s not matching the development aspirations of our country,” he said.
He argued that refinery and storage infrastructure could allow Guyana to become an important supplier of refined products to the Caribbean, including the Dominican Republic.
According to the President, this could create a regional trading system while allowing Guyana to build its own emergency stock and derive greater economic benefits from its petroleum resources.
Ali also linked rising food prices to disruptions in international energy and commodity markets. He said higher natural gas prices were affecting fertiliser production, resulting in increased costs for farmers, agrochemicals, pharmaceuticals and ultimately food.
“When fertiliser costs increase, the cost of food prices also goes up,” he said.
The President did not announce any new immediate cash-transfer or price-relief measure during this section of the press conference, instead identifying changes which he said were needed in Guyana’s energy, retail and food-distribution systems.
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