Food-price hike hits workers
The price of food spiked this month, and Cambodia’s low-paid garment workers are feeling the effects.
Meat, vegetables, toothbrushes, beauty accessories and even the plastic bags they get packed in have all seen a sharp bump up in price this month, some items by as much as 30 per cent, workers and traders said yesterday.
The Post reported last week that reforms to stamp out corruption in the customs department have led to an increase in the cost of imported goods. Customs officials who would often undercut tax rates on imports are now applying the official rate, meaning import costs have suddenly increased, leaving consumers to foot the bill.
With a base minimum wage of $75 a month, a garment worker’s budget is sensitive to even the slightest inflationary pressure. …
“They [garment workers] are the most poorly paid workers in the world, and they are incredibly vulnerable to inflation,” Dave Welsh, country director for labour rights group Solidarity Center/ACILS, said.
Because of the nature of the sector – in which many migrate from rural provinces to factories in search of employment – workers are tied to the traders and landlords operating nearby, according to Welsh. Any rise in real wages is usually matched by an equivalent increase in food and rent.
Sudden increases, like tax hikes, are also inevitably passed on to workers, he said. …
The Ministry of Planning’s National Institute of Statistics said yesterday that recent figures on inflation were not yet available. But the many vendors at nearby factories said they were forced to raise their prices after import costs rose at the beginning of the month. …
About $6.8 billion was spent on imports in the first nine months of this year, an increase of 13 per cent from $6 billion in the same period last year, according to data from the Ministry of Commerce. …
At the National Bank of Cambodia, director general Chea Serey was confident yesterday that the effect of customs reforms on inflation “would be minimal”. …
Daniel de Carteret and Hor Kimsay
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/food-price-hike-hits-workers
