NASSAU, THE BAHAMAS — Minister of Economic Affairs Michael Halkitis says that The Government is looking at several initiatives to ensure that its efforts to lower costs for Bahamian consumers amid high inflation are “not for naught”.
In an interview with Eyewitness News, Halkitis said: “We have spoken to the shippers and asked them to bring their rates down, we have adjusted Customs duties on a number of items and we want to ensure that the benefit of those efforts is trickling down to the wholesaler’s, retailers and the Bahamian consumers.”
He added: “We are looking at a number of options including beefing up our consumer protection efforts, price control, making it easier for example for consumers to report infractions, and putting more boots on the ground. We are in a volatile position in the world but the government is doing as much as it can within what it has in its toolbox to try and mitigate the impact of inflation as much as we can.
“The prime minister spoke to the shippers and they agreed to bring down their rates and the government has dropped duty rates… Something will be coming forward before the end of this year.”
Pledging that “something will be coming forward before the end of this year”, Halkitis said his focus is on making sure the reductions “trickle down” so that the efforts are not “all for naught”.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) projected that inflation this year will hit 9.5 percent in emerging markets and developing economies like The Bahamas.
The IMF’s World Economic Report – titled “Gloomy and More Uncertain” – cited further negative spillovers from the war in Ukraine, higher than expected inflation worldwide, and a worse than anticipated slowdown in China as reasons for the revision to its global economic growth projections.
The IMF also reduced its growth expectation for 2022 to 3.2 percent, about half a percentage point lower than what it had previously predicted.
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