Dear Editor,
The effort of our prime minister to give relief to senior citizens is appreciated. However, the focus on electricity cost is, according to me, misplaced. We now pay for electricity the same as in July 2007. Where the focus should be is on food. Based on the figures from our Department of Statistics the total inflation from 2005 till October 2015 is 30 per cent. Taking the inflation in food prices separate the number is exactly 100 per cent. In other words on average one has to spend 30 per cent more now to pay for the same as in 2005, but for food one has to pay double.
On the average, inflation category housing is represented at 40 per cent while food is represented at 10 per cent. My assumption is that seniors spend far more on food than on housing. I don’t know what the answer is, except raising the AOV much more than the 0.86 per cent as has been done for 2016. If our prime minister finds a way to lower the food prices that would be the most effective relief for seniors.
The spreadsheet shown below is based on information from the Department of Statitics.
| Average | Food | |||
| Inflation | Inflation | |||
| 2005 | 100.00 | 100.00 | ||
| 2006 | 2.30% | 102.30 | 3.90% | 103.90 |
| 2007 | 2.30% | 104.65 | 2.70% | 106.71 |
| 2008 | 4.60% | 109.47 | 13.70% | 121.32 |
| 2009 | 0.70% | 110.23 | 9.30% | 132.61 |
| 2010 | 3.20% | 113.76 | 3.00% | 136.59 |
| 2011 | 4.60% | 118.99 | 9.10% | 149.01 |
| 2012 | 4.00% | 123.75 | 11.40% | 166.00 |
| 2013 | 2.50% | 126.85 | 6.30% | 176.46 |
| 2014 | 1.90% | 129.26 | 6.30% | 187.58 |
| 2015 | 0.60% | 130.03 | 7.10% | 200.90 |
Kind regards,
Alfred Koolen
