Let us recall that inflation is the measure of the general rise in prices according to official statistics published by the State through its economic services. The household basket, meanwhile, is the inventory of a family's purchases, which can generally be distinguished into two types (Malagasy and European households): it is true that one does not buy wine or cheese on every shopping trip, thus assuming it differs. Officially, it is stated that prices have increased by 8% to 8.6% over the past 12 months in the country. Do you and I believe this? Without playing the sorcerer's apprentice, it seems that skepticism prevails over certainty. Going to the market every day, we perceive that what we spend far exceeds the stated rates. Without questioning the announced figures, everyone repeats all day long that everything is increasing in unbearable proportions. But we must distinguish between perception (subjective feeling) and reality. Let us try to examine things without prejudice. The baguette of bread, for example, the one the citizen buys in the morning, should normally weigh, according to baking professionals, 250 to 300 grams, and it has cost, for three years, 600 ariary. In truth, if we amuse ourselves by weighing it, the scale shows less than 150 grams; therefore, doing the math, it costs today double what it should be worth. Thus, we observe double (100%) its price. Let us admit that the price of bread is strategically political, like that of taxi-be, and that its nominal price is artificially maintained. Now let us look at the so-called free market by taking the price of tomatoes, which is part of the usual ingredients in our dishes. It is said that price is an indicator of scarcity (the more supply increases, the more price decreases). Its price is very minimal compared to that of meat and even to that of other vegetables. There was a time when, during periods of abundance, one could obtain them for next to nothing (100 ar for a bunch of 3 or 4 units). Then a cyclone struck and its price soared, until it took 200 ariary to get a small tomato. One must admit there is reason for any housewife to complain. To say that official inflation figures have little credibility for the consumer, and yet the consumer's purchasing power is at stake, which, if it diminishes, any lack of consumption stimulus hinders all growth, especially for a country seeking food self-sufficiency. M. Ranarivao