Food and transport eat budgets

[NewsWhore]

The agreement between the government and the transport syndicates doesn't help the average housewife or job holder at all, because the recent increases in fares and freight rates were not rescinded in the wake of the agreement. So the bus owners and truck owners get cheaper fuels but the fares stay high, as if the fuels were at normal prices. So far this year the taxis known as "conchos" or "publicos" have increased their fares as much as 67%, arguing the increasing cost of gasoline, which very few of them even use. According to El Caribe newspaper, the local population is now into a "forced" austerity program. One person interviewed by the newspaper, an executive secretary, told the reporter that she spent RD$104 per day on getting to and from work. Just eating at the work place has gotten more expensive, too. With a normal meal now costing at least RD$90, a worker is spending RD$1,700 a month on lunch, whereas before he was spending just RD$1,250. Adding up transportation and food, a worker earning a minimum salary in the private sector will spend 67% of his income on these two items alone.

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