Economist Nazim Burke of the National Democratic Congress has criticized the New National Party for its lack of emphasis on what the NNP intends to do about the serious cost of living problem facing Grenadians.

Burke, who is the NDC incumbent for St. George North East in the July 8 general election, said the NNP's manifesto makes very little mention of cost of living, even though Grenadians have ranked it as a major concern.

By the NNP's own polling of Grenadians, said Burke, "41 per cent of all those who were interviewed said the cost of living is the single most important concern facing them.''

People want to hear about issues related to "how they're going to feed their families, how they're going to house their families, how they're going to clothe their families, how they're going to pay their transportation bills as they go to and from work, and how to meet their daily expenses,'' said Burke, a lawyer and the NDC's spokesman on finance.

Unlike the NNP, explained Burke, the NDC has said "quite specifically'' what it's going to do about the cost of living should it be elected to government on July 8.

"We've said, for example, that we would – as short-term measures – immediately abolish the National Reconstruction Levy (NRL),'' Burke said in an interview on the morning television show, Breakfast Club.

"We believe at this particular juncture to continue (with NRL) is to keep monies out of the hands of people.  And what we need to be doing in hard times, when incomes are flat, when the economy is heading to some kind of slow down, we need to ensure that we increase the spending power and make more disposable income available to people.''

On page five of the NDC's manifesto, the party says it would also address the "escalating cost of living'' by significantly reducing "import duties and the levies on a select basket of essential goods, so as to make these goods more accessible to the poor and disadvantaged.''

Moreover, the NDC pledges to "drastically reduce government waste by relieving the public of the burden of expenses that provide no tangible or measurable service or benefit to the state and its citizens.''