The price for a loaf of bread in Tongatapu went up by 35 seniti from $1.40 to $1.75 on Sunday, January 27.

The President of the Tonga Bakery Association, Sepa Mafi, said today that they had no other choice but to increase the price of bread so as to make ends meet.

Sepa said they should have increased the price of bread last year to $2 pa'anga but they were waiting to see whether government would accept their request to allow them to import their ingredients duty free.

"They declined our request two weeks ago, so we decided to increase our price in order to remain alive," he said.

Sepa said the rise in the price of bread was due mainly to the weakening value of the Tongan Pa'anga against the main import partners in New Zealand and Australia.

Secondly, was the increase in the cost of a sack of flour from $22 pa...’anga in September last year to $36 pa'anga now.

The last hike in the price of bread was in June 2007 increasing by 20 seniti from $1.20 to $1.40 pa...’anga per loaf.

Today the bank's selling rate for the pa'anga is NZD 66 cents, while one pa'anga will buy AUD 57 cents.