The price of one of the most basic foodstuffs – bread – is set to increase by some 25% in the coming days.

The reports announcing the increase, first published by the Nationalist Party media and later confirmed by the state broadcaster, do not seem to have had much of an effect on ordinary people. Maybe many of us do not eat a lot of bread, or maybe the 25 cent increase will hardly be felt by those who earn a decent living.

But the drastic increase will definitely have an effect on the vulnerable. In comments to this newspaper, both the Nationalist Party and Caritas have warned about the negative effect that this will have on the poor, those on the brink of poverty, the elderly and those who depend on social benefits. For them, this increase is no trivial matter.

Of course, the government cannot be blamed over rising international wheat prices. That is something the state has no control over. Nor can we expect the government to fix the prices of food. In a competitive economy, that would be illegal. We also cannot expect it to subsidise people to mitigate the increase, because it would then have to subsidise people every time the price of some product increases.

But it seems that the authorities may be taking the issue too lightly. When we asked Parliamentary Secretary Deo Debattista, who is responsible for consumer affairs, about the matter, he told us that the consumer watchdog, the MCCAA, is not in a position to confirm about any price increase in the price of bread as it has not investigated such changes.

We feel that the authority should ‘investigate’ without delay, so as to be in a position to verify. This should not be very difficult, seeing that the increase was agreed upon by some 90 bakers, and the decision was communicated to the media.

We also expect the government to tell us whether this issue will only be affecting bread prices, or whether it will also lead to an increase in the price of pasta – another staple food.

The government also needs to see this in the wider context of rising food prices across the board, the higher energy bills households are receiving, the rising price of property and rent, and the incessant reports of people living in garages, boats and public gardens.

We are not saying that poverty is rampant in the country, or that the economy is not thriving, but it is clear that there is a section of society that is lagging behind, a section that the surplus being registered month after month has not yet reached. A member of the Anti-poverty Forum warned, a few weeks back, that the poor are getting poorer.

There is no easy fix for this. What is needed is a shift in mentality and a change in policies. The yearly COLA increase, announced in the budget, will not cut it, and October is still a far way off anyway.

The authorities need to stop playing the numbers game, judging the economy by how many boats and cars some people can afford, by how much money business are raking in, and how many luxurious towers are going up, and start measuring the economy by how well those at the very bottom are doing.