NASSAU, BAHAMAS — The government has agreed to a five percent increase in the margin on perishable food items, according to Economic Affairs Minister Michael Halkitis, who yesterday described the move as a “reasonable concession”.
“We published the order,” said Halkitis, referencing the Retail Grocers Association and their concerns over the Price Control Basket expansion.
“We got some communication from them. One of their main concerns is being able to have a little bit of cushion for perishables; meats and fruits and vegetables. Their issue was there is a potential for loss and an experience of loss with perishables so they wanted a slight increase in the margin for perishables which we agreed to do, – five percent- and they wanted a slight increase for family islands to cover transportation which we agreed to do.”
He added: “We should be gazetting those new regulations, a five percent increase for perishes which I thought was reasonable. We think that is a reasonable concession. They had some other issues but that is what we felt we could do at those times and we fully expect them to comply with the regulations.”
The Retail Grocers Association had argued that while the government had announced 38 items would be added to the Price Control Basket, it is in actuality 38 categories of foodstuffs, which would affect more than 5,000 items to which inventory and price adjustments would have to be made. The association argued that the move would be detrimental to the local food wholesale and retail industry and indicated earlier this week that they would not implement the price control amendments until they received a conclusive response from the government.
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