Diario Libre reports that family groceries have gone up by as much as 30% over the past few weeks. Increased costs for poultry, butter, beans, milk and cooking oil have been accompanied in some cases by decreasing demand, as in the case of poultry. Prices for fresh chicken rose 24%, while demand fell by 15%. Rice, the staple of the Dominican diet, has also responded to the increasing devaluation of the peso, and it is now 95% higher. Some products have seen price cuts in order to retain or recover old customers; soaps have seen price slashes of as much as 22% in an effort to gain customers. The uncertaintyof the marketplace, however, has driven some business to ?dollarize? their price lists.
According to the Diario Libre, the Ferreter?a Americana hardware store has boosted its prices by 21% since the end of April. David Paiewonsky, the sales and marketing manager for the store, says that they are calculating their prices in dollars at a rate of only RD$31, because ?no one can sustain the real price of the dollar?. La Cadena supermarket has taken the ?temporary? step of having all of its credit accounts converted into dollars, with payments to be made at the exchange rate on the day of payment. Bookstores such as Cuesta have seen price increases over recent weeks of as much as 30%, according to Rogelio Obaya.