ST. GEORGE’S, GRENADA, MARCH 4TH New National Party (NNP) leader and Opposition Leader Emmalin Pierre is demanding that the Deacon Mitchell-led administration introduce a series of immediate relief measures to help Grenadians cope with a deepening cost-of-living crisis — warning that the government’s own policies are making a difficult situation worse.

Speaking at a news conference in St. George’s this week, Pierre laid out a pointed indictment of the NDC government’s economic management, accusing it of piling new financial burdens onto ordinary citizens while the country runs a deficit of over three hundred million dollars.

“When the utility costs go up, the cost of everything else follows,” Pierre said. “It is a hidden tax on your basic goods and services.”

Pierre accused the government of reinstating taxes and non-fuel charges on electricity — charges the previous NNP administration had removed to ease the burden on households — and of introducing a renewable fuel charge, a new tariff on electricity, and levies and new charges on water.

The opposition leader is calling on the government to take four specific steps: review and expand the price control list for essential food items; remove VAT on sugar; remove the water levy; and remove VAT on electricity. “None of these solutions is global,” she said. “None of them requires permission from international markets. They only require a decision from the Cabinet of Grenada, right here at home.”

Pierre pointed to examples from elsewhere in the Caribbean as evidence that governments can and must act. Barbados, she noted, negotiated a private-sector price lockdown on essential items with closely monitored enforcement, while Guyana has moved aggressively to subsidize farmers to reduce the country’s import bill. “These leaders did not wait for the world to change,” she said. “They changed their policies.”

While acknowledging that global supply chain pressures are contributing to inflation, Pierre was emphatic that external factors do not absolve the government of its responsibilities. “Acknowledging that there is a storm outside does not entitle you to stand on the veranda,” she said. “A responsible government opens the shelters.”

The opposition leader also took aim at what she called glaring contradictions in government spending. She noted that while the administration is running a deficit of over three hundred million dollars, ministers received a one hundred and fifty percent salary increase — compared to twelve percent given to workers — and the government procured new and luxury vehicles for officials, with fuel costs for ministers alone running to at least seventy-two thousand dollars a year.

“While they buy new vehicles with free fuel, they increase licence fees for vehicle owners on the road,” Pierre said. “The evidence suggests that the answer is very little for the people and quite a lot for itself.”

Pierre pledged that a returning NNP government would take an “immediate, aggressive approach” to reducing the cost of living, pointing to the party’s record of keeping fuel prices stable, removing electricity taxes, and leaving over $500 million in reserves.