A side-by-side com­par­i­son of a ba­sic bas­ket of gro­ceries shows that while prices have shift­ed over the past year, the over­all in­crease re­mains mar­gin­al.

A Guardian Me­dia analy­sis com­par­ing iden­ti­cal items in April 2025 and April 2026 found that the to­tal cost of the bas­ket moved from $358.47 to $362.47, an in­crease of just $4, or rough­ly one per cent. The com­par­i­son, con­duct­ed us­ing the same brands and quan­ti­ties, high­lights a mixed pic­ture at the check­out.

Last Oc­to­ber, the UNC gov­ern­ment, in its first bud­get, an­nounced the re­moval of Val­ue Added Tax (VAT) from sev­er­al food items to re­duce the cost of liv­ing. Among the ze­ro-rat­ed items were lo­cal pro­duce, ta­ble salt, co­coa prod­ucts, and var­i­ous condi­ments.