The Seychelles Trading Company (STC), a state-owned importer, as of May 1 will reduce prices on 82 top items purchased by families in a bid to lower the cost of living in the country.

The review of the prices comes after the cabinet of ministers had requested that the company take necessary steps to lower the cost of living in the island nation.

The chairman of the STC board, Imtiaz Umarji, told reporters recently that the review in prices was long overdue.

“We have realised that the subsidy STC was providing on essential items such as oil was benefitting big businesses and not necessarily the people of Seychelles who really need it," he said.

Umarji added that this is the reason why big businesses would rather buy these products from STC rather than import them and pay the actual price on the international market.

In addition to not reaching the targeted population, STC also says it was making a loss by subsidising the 14 items in category 1.

As a result, STC will increase the prices on 12 of the 14 items on the essential list.

The CEO revealed that STC has added new items to the list of top items "as a household does not only use lentils, rice and the other items in category 1."

The last time the company reviewed the prices of category 1 of 14 essential items was in 2012.

According to Bistoquet, due to the revision in prices, a family of four that would spend SCR,3554.90 ($232) will now pay SCR191.25 ($13.2) less for the same shopping list.

STC also has the mandate of importing onions and potatoes – both seasonal items – and those prices have not been affected in the latest review.

Meanwhile, in a bid to keep the price of staple goods like bread at an affordable cost, the price of flour will remain the same.