Click to view full size

With just one month be­fore the new school term be­gins, par­ents are al­ready com­plain­ing about ris­ing prices for school books and sup­plies.

Some say book lists are now cost­ing thou­sands of dol­lars—more than their month­ly util­i­ty bills—while store own­ers re­port slow sales de­spite it al­ready be­ing Au­gust.

When Guardian Me­dia vis­it­ed down­town Port-of-Spain yes­ter­day, sev­er­al book­stores and shoe shops were vis­i­bly emp­ty.