When I reached home the other day from paying this exorbitant price, I was astonished to read a newspaper story claiming a 45-percent reduction in the price of this sweet commodity. I thought to myself: “God be praised! The price of sugar plunged 45 percent during my trip home from the grocery store!”

The newspaper story also reminded me of the statements made by the Ministry of Commerce during the 2007-2008 global food crisis, when prices of commodities shot up.

Even as we are feeling the effects of this crisis in our pockets to this day, local newspapers are happy to report that the price of basic foods, including rice, is plummeting!

Honestly, the only places where we see plummeting food prices are in newspaper reports; certainly not on the shelves of our local supermarkets.

The truth is there has been no negligible reduction in prices, and promises of such have not been kept. Consumers have concluded that any promises of price reductions are meant to deceive them. And newspapers are failing to reflect this cynicism and lack of trust.

The value of everything seems to be rising, except, of course, the price of human beings and of stocks. The value of 10 human beings is considered to be equivalent to the price of a camel.

As far as the value of stocks are concerned the prices are falling as fast as the savings rate of citizens. Speaking of saving money: I want to ask people how much money they are saving, but I am not sure if one can talk about something that doesn’t exist anymore.

It seems natural for the Ministry of Commerce and Industry to rein in the price of feedstock. I hope that the ministry’s enthusiasm for controlling the prices of food eaten by animals would also apply to the prices of food eaten by humans!

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