Capturing the cost of living thro’ the Bath Curry Indicator
The unique ‘Bath Curry Indicator’ (BCI – a food price tracker for Sri Lanka) launched by the Advocata Institute, a policy think tank, would be helpful to policy makers, politicians and other officials in their quest to reduce food prices or monitor them. The ‘Indicator’ launch took place at the BMICH on Wednesday.
BCI is a Sri Lankan spin on the infamous “Big Mac Index” by The Economist. The event “Economist Take on The Cost Of Lunch” is in light of the launch of BCI. The exercise is unique and rather appropriate as there are controversial widespread discussions on the rice prices and distribution, coconut oil and on the spiraling high food cost.
Dhananath Fernando, CEO, Advocata Institute told the Business Times on the sidelines of the event that, “When as an institute, we share our data with politicians and officials they in turn inquire from us as to what is happening to the ‘Indicator’ and we constantly explain as to whether prices go up or down”.
They share information publicly and even individually when inquiries are made and almost weekly, they do so. He said that there is another important matter of analysing profits and losses in all the state corporations and state commercial establishments, but it would be not weekly but biannually.
He said that then they could see how the public funds are utilised by the state agencies. They could find out the status with the data provided by those agencies themselves and by this exercise, he said that they could share very valuable information with the public.
BCI tracks the average retail prices of a basket of goods and provides an indication of how much prices have changed over time. With such tools, anyone including policymakers and politicians alike has access to track price fluctuations.
Mr. Fernando said that this could enable anyone to see if policies have direct or indirect effects on food, which is an essential item and can have a direct impact on the food consumed by households. BCI provides such a policy direction while highlighting the importance of the affordability of food.
Naqiya Shiraz, Research Executive, Advocata said that BCI represents any average Sri Lanka household. The items are Samba rice, beans, pumpkin, tomatoes, brinjals, coconut, green chilies and fish. Thus, it is important to understand the decisions that impact the prices of goods, and indicated whether the policies impact food prices.
Economist Deshal De Mel said the cost of living in this country is a concern and even though the inflation in Sri Lanka for the last two years has been at single-digit levels it is still a concern to the public.
Rehana Thowfeek Zain, Economic Researcher and Blogger, said that BCI would capture a relatable way to cover the cost of living and also investigate the merit behind claims by politicians when they use the cost of living as a hook in their election manifesto.
She asserted that a huge number – 53 per cent of Sri Lankans cannot afford a healthy diet. While this country is food secure, she questioned whether the country is nutrition secure as children are not developing as they should be.
She drew attention to the fact that trade policies should focus on the overall objective and cater to the health of Sri Lanka’s population, highlighting the socioeconomic impact of rising food prices on the general public.
The panellists at the discussion were Deshal De Mel (Economist), Rehana Thowfeek Zain (Economic Researcher and Blogger) and Naqiya Shiraz (Researcher). The discussion was moderated by Aneetha Warusavitarana (Research Manager, Advocata Institute). BCI can be accessed at www.bci.advocata.org.