BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, CMC – The Government on Thursday announced phase two of a Social Compact with the private sector, which will see consumers paying reduced costs on 47 items for another six months.
Senior Minister for Co-ordinating the Productive Sectors Kerrie Symmonds said the arrangement should get the approval of Cabinet within a week or two.
The first compact was implemented from July 21, 2022, to January 31, 2023, to ease the burden on consumers because of surging prices as a result of inflationary trends taking place internationally. Forty-seven categories associated with the basket of goods benefitted from a reduction in the markups.
“We will still be treated to the 47 items under the basket of goods…. The new agreement will once again be for six months,” Symmonds, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, said at a press conference on Thursday.
He said distributors and manufacturers have agreed to a markup between 12 to 18 percent on dry goods and 12 to 20 percent on cold storage products as listed in the basket of goods.
Pork producers have agreed to hold to a markup of 10 percent, while some poultry farmers and producers will work with individual supermarket retailers to bring the best pricing to consumers.
The Minister thanked the private sector members for their participation in the first compact, saying it had brought tremendous pressure on them.
“The private sector carried a heavy burden. They came to the table and put skin in the game in defense of the interests of the ordinary consumer in Barbados, who are the people with whom they do business on a day-by-day basis.
“And I want personally to thank them for the sacrifice that they have made and the commitment they have demonstrated towards social stability in this country. It has not been done without great pain, and quite frankly, for some businesses, great peril as well,” Symmonds said.
President of the Barbados Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Anthony Branker, said the business community was mindful of the social impact that a significant price rise could have at this time.
He added that the businesses that would be signing on to the new compact had committed to continue reducing their markups in the interest of Barbados.
“We regrettably do not have all of the persons that would have been on the first compact…, but I think generally we have an overall group of retailers and distributors that consumers should still see the control of prices versus what it could have been if full markups were applied.
“It is not price control, so as we get variations in freight, variations in our first cost, prices will still move up or down, but it is a markup control. We have agreed to a markup range so that there would still be some competitiveness among retailers…,” Branker stated.
On Tuesday, Minister in the Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs Ryan Straughn announced in Parliament that the reduced 7.5 percent VAT paid on the first 250 kilowatt-hours of electricity – which was in effect from August 1, 2022, to January 31, 2023 – would continue until September 30.
Symmonds said that measure indicated the Government’s ongoing commitment to giving consumers ease from the high cost of living.
and then 