The price for a loaf of bread in Tongatapu went up by 20 seniti from $1.20 to $1.40 last week.

The President of the Tonga Bakery Association, Sepa Mafi said today that, "we had no other choice but to increase the price of bread otherwise our business will die. But in comparison with the price of other food products that have also increased, the price of bread is still the cheapest."

Sepa said that the rise in the price of bread was due mainly to an increase in the cost of a sack of flour which has went up from $22 pa'anga to $32 pa'anga. "The prices of other ingredients, such as yeast, has doubled and went up from $3 pa'anga to $6 pa'anga.

"The weakening pa'anga also contributed to the increase, and so is the drought in Australia."

Today the bank's selling rate for the pa'anga dropped below NZD 65 cents, while one pa'anga will buy AUD 58 cents.