The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

A Cabinet Minister has criticised the former Ingraham administration’s goods offer to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) for not giving sufficient protection to niche Bahamian producers and incentivising them to expand.

Ryan Pinder, minister of financial services, told Tribune Business that the Bahamas’ offer failed to account for different product types, and the fact it was possible to both safeguard niche producers while simultaneously protecting Bahamian consumers from high prices.

Speaking to Tribune Business in a recent interview, Mr Pinder said the former administration had explained its goods offer as “a consumer cost initiative, but did not take into consideration the impact on agriculture and the flexibility” available to protect specialist producers.

Citing tomatoes as an example, Mr Pinder said the Bahamas had offered import/Customs duty rates of “no more than 10 per cent” on this product, neglecting the fact that six-eight different types were grown in the Bahamas.

While some were used as food staples by Bahamians, Mr Pinder noted that the likes of grape tomatoes were used for salads and in the high-end restaurant industry.

As a result, he argued that it was possible to segment the market and, via the Bahamas’ tariff offers in its negotiations for full WTO membership, balance Bahamian consumer interests with fostering niche domestic and export markets.

“It’s a different market,” Mr Pinder told Tribune Business, referring to his tomato example. “We can preserve the difference in food prices to help the farmers who grow specialty tomatoes by increasing the tariff rates on specialty imports, but keep the rates low on general tomatoes to not increase costs for consumers.

“We can provide opportunities in sub-sectors. We have flexibility within the WTO offer to do that, but we don’t want to be indifferent to Bahamians. We’ve identified areas that need further protection from tariff rates, but will not impact Bahamians.”

And he added: “We have preserved in our agriculture offer the tariff rates to give us flexibility to increase rates if we want to, from 0-50 per cent.

“We’re actively engaged in the process of finding markets for sub-sectors in agriculture. It’s a complex initiative for sure.”

Bahamian agriculture is largely unable to compete with foreign lower-cost producers who enjoy tremendous economies of scale advantages, forcing the sector to focus on niche markets.

Elsewhere, Mr Pinder admitted that no one in the Bahamian private sector had seen this nation’s WTO goods and services offers, something observers have described as “dangerous” because companies do not know what the Government is negotiating on their behalf.

However, Mr Pinder said this was compensated for by consultation, himself having met with 26-27 industry groups in developing a services offer that is “completely consistent with the National Investment Policy”.

He added that he also met with a similar number of industry groups on the goods/market access offer, including agriculture and other “sensitive’ markets.

Mr Pinder told Tribune Business that the third Working Group meeting between the Bahamas and nations negotiating the terms of its WTO accession was likely to occur by March.

“I hope after that to be able to report on some initiatives, and have some legislation tabled and debated in the House,” he told Tribune Business.

“We are ahead of the pace anticipated on the legislation. We are advancing methodically and on pace.”

Mr Pinder said a major public education campaign would likely launch following the Third Working Party meeting, with the Government working with Caribbean counterparts to obtain grant funding to assist with trade implementation.

It is also focusing on the establishment of a Standards Bureau and Sanitary and Phytosanitary testing laboratories.