By John Denny Observer Reporter
(Charlestown, Nevis) ” At last week’s budget session of Parliament, the Junior Minister of Trade, Dwight Cozier announced that the Nevis Island Administration would be increasing its subsidies on cooking gas to help alleviate the rising cost of living. To counter rumors that the supply store was “empty,” the Junior Minister said in an interview this week that the supply store was not empty, but had run low on account of a delay in shipment from St. Vincent. “We have 10 containers coming from St. Vincent that were supposed to leave last week, but because of a miscommunication, they didn’t get shipped,” said the Junior Minister. “I believe they have been shipped this week and should be here (today). In the 10 containers are many of the basic items found in the supply store, said Mr. Cozier, including flour and a variety of animal feeds. Domestic cooking gas will be a little cheaper in the coming weeks with a 100 pound cylinder dropping from $160 to $140 and a 20 pound cylinder dropping from $35 to $30, Mr. Cozier said. The Ministry of Trade is still in the process of remodeling a space for the newly created Consumer Affairs office. Once established, the Consumer Affairs office will implement the cuts in the consumption tax proposed last spring. Rice, all flour, Cream of Wheat, sardines and tuna was approved at 100 percent reduction in consumption taxes and as were baby diapers and adult diapers while cheese, white potatoes, oats, butter, Vienna sausages, dried peas, carrots, bananas, orange juice and apples would receive a 10 percent reduction on the current rate of consumption tax, under the original plan. Lacking the ability to monitor or enforce the reductions at grocery stores, the ministry has been delayed in implementing the tax cuts. “We have a conference room that we are converting into an office,” Mr. Cozier said. “The remodeling is about 90 percent completed and should be ready in January.” The consumer affairs will be the “price police,” said Mr. Cozier. Their job will be to monitor the grocery store’s prices of the reduced items to ensure the tax cuts will be passed on to the consumers. The office will set the price on these items based on a fair market price and make weekly announcements to the public to inform them of the prices, according to Cozier.
