The government had talked about sacrifice? It is now time for the public to experience it. The prices of several consumer products (petrol, diesel, gas, cement, and bread) went up as from yesterday.

Even though they didn?t want it to happen, the public must have been expecting the rise in the price of bread since the budget speech on 9th June. With the end of subsidies on flour, there was no other solution for bakers. The government finally announced the price increase. However, bakers are not totally satisfied with the new prices as they consider they are not big enough to ensure profitability.

On Sunday, the committee for Automatic Pricing Mechanism (AMP), chaired by Harish Bundhoo, director of the central statistics office, met to decide the new prices of petrol, diesel and gas. Just like petrol and diesel, the price of gas will now depend on the decision of the APM committee.

Petrol has gone up from Rs 31.30 to Rs 37.55, which corresponds to a 20% rise - the limit imposed by the APM. As for diesel, it has undergone a 14.9% rise ? from Rs 28.50 to Rs 32.75. The last revision was more in favour of petrol users than diesel users who had to face a 20 % rise. This time, drivers of petrol cars must be disappointed, the more so as the last price revision was a nice surprise: the price of petrol decreased thanks to unexpected sales that allowed the deficit to be absorbed. This time, both petrol and diesel users have to face a substantial rise.

The APM committee also decided that the domestic gas bottle (12 kg) will now cost Rs 25 more thus reaching Rs 300. The 6 kg bottle will now cost Rs 150 and the 5 kg one Rs 125. However, as for diesel and petrol, the State Trading Corporation said the new prices still do not match the real price on the international market. Prices worldwide have increased so much ? added to the dollar fluctuation rate ? that this was the minimum increase that could be imposed.

Even though the decision over the rise in the price of cement goes back to the cabinet meeting on Friday, consumers only learnt about it when hardware shops opened yesterday morning. The prices will vary according to the region - as the transport fee is included in the overall cost - but there is one certainty: it concerns the whole country. Cement companies had been asking for a revision for a long time, as they said their profit margin was not enough to guarantee profitability to their companies. After studying a report by the management audit bureau, the government finally decided to accept the operators? request on Friday.