By L.K. Hewlett
St. Kitts Reporter
Government has given its assurance that small businesses will still be able to make a profit despite the impending price control measures to be implemented sometime this month.
The President of the Chamber of Industry and Commerce (CIC), Franklin Brand had stated that the organisation was not in support of price control, saying ‘it is purely a political issue’.
Brand had also claimed that price control would disenfranchise small business sellers whose profit margin would be reduced to levels that would force them out of business.
Minister of State in the Ministry of Information Sen. the Hon. Nigel Carty, speaking after the Cabinet meeting, said members received a full update from Minister of Consumer Affairs Dr. the Hon. Timothy Harris on the implementation of the new price control policy.
“The minister indicated that he had had discussions with members of the business community and had come to a good sense of what levels of reduction would be needed to appreciably reduce the cost of living to the benefit of the poor while simultaneously ensuring that small businesses in particular can continue to operate profitably,” Carty said.
Cabinet recently approved a list of basic food and non-food items to comprise a basket of goods for price control in an effort to reduce the cost of living. The approved basket of food items consists of fruits and vegetables, chicken parts, frozen fish, corn meal, flour, milk, margarine, pasta products, cheese, sardines, crackers, cereals, toothpaste, cooking oil, peas and beans, rice, corned beef, toilet paper, disposable diapers, and medicines for allergy, hypertension, asthma, diabetes and eye conditions. The price of refrigerators, stoves and mattresses up to certain limited sizes will also be regulated and the Ministry of Finance will advise on which of these goods, if any, should be exempt from import duty.
The Ministry of Consumer Affairs and the Ministry of Finance were mandated to undertake a comprehensive review and analysis of the basket of basic food items and to make recommendations on how the cost of these basic items could be reduced.
This committee would then compile and submit a report, after which Cabinet would identify the mark up that would be applied to these essential items.
During his own press conference, Harris said the mark-up would address wholesalers’ prices as well as those set by retailers on the same goods and would address the maximum price at which those particular goods could be legally sold.
“The mark-up would address the maximum terms, which means sellers cannot legally go above that price but they certainly can go much lower. The establishing of the mark-up required some degree of consultation with economists and other people in the private sector.
“Persons were willing to give input because they realized that the government was trying to do was a useful exercise even if everyone did not agree with every item on the list. So that matter should be finalized within the next couple of days as to what the mark-up would be,” Harris stated.
