The Tribune

BY EARYEL BOWLEG

Tribune Staff Reporter

ebowleg@tribunemedia.net

ECONOMIC Affairs Minister Michael Halkitis said he hopes that all issues between government and retailers are resolved by Friday.

The minister gave details of a meeting held with Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis and the retailers on Monday night.

Mr Halkitis described the meeting as “cordial”, but made it clear officials were “not delaying the roll out at all” of the new price control measures.

They were implemented on Monday, October 17.

“And so they expressed gratitude for the quick meeting,” Minister Halkitis said yesterday ahead of a Cabinet meeting.

“The Prime Minister impressed on them that the changes to the addition of the items to the price control list was a continuation of the government’s efforts to bring relief to the public following on, of course, the reduction of VAT from 12 percent to 10 percent.

 “The reduction in the last budget of customs duties on 56 food items, representation with the Prime Minister to shippers to have them bring their costs down. And so the objective was really to make sure that all of those things trickle down to the consumer. And this was the latest effort.”

 He added: “I think there was an understanding from the other side to that point. We heard their concerns about the impact on their businesses. One of the main points they made was the notice period that they thought should be a bit longer. We came away saying that we will get some additional input from them on some adjustments that they think can be made and that we will hopefully have all of those issues resolved by this Friday.

 “So, we committed to not going through the full enforcement until we’ve sorted all those issues out. We’ve asked them to provide us some additional suggestions on how they think that we can attain the goals that we have - ie bringing relief to the public.”

 Along with Mr Halkitis and the prime minister, Deputy Prime Minister Chester Cooper, Attorney General Ryan Pinder and officials from the Ministry of Agriculture and price control attended the meeting.

 The retail grocers were present, as well as some representatives from wholesalers. There was also a representative from the Family Islands and also the Light Industries Development council.

 Mr Halkitis said some grocers further expressed the fact that they needed time to change prices on their shelves.

 “And so we’re saying okay, we’ll be cognisant of that. And so if, of course, if someone can do it more quickly, that’s fine. But if it’s taking some people a few days to do it, you know, we were mindful of that.”

 The Tribune contacted Retail Grocers Association president Philip Beneby.

 He said: “Nothing was decided. It’s just that you know, the dialogue continues and the government has asked the retailers to present a workable solution and that is where we are and that is what we are working on.”

 Mr Beneby also described the meeting as cordial, saying it went pretty well.

 “The Prime Minister, you know, he realised that, I guess, there needed to be consultation and the consultation process has started between the government and the Retail Grocers Association.”

 The Ministry of Economic Affairs and Ministry of Health and Wellness in statements issued said no “penalties” or enforcement measures will be levied against food stores, pharmacies and their wholesale suppliers during the “extended period” necessary to adjust inventory, margins and mark-ups to the new regime’s requirements.

Mr Beneby. Has previously warned that merchants would not implement the new price controls by October 17- as required by law under newly-signed regulations - because to do so would leave them facing “massive losses” and be akin to “signing a death warrant for our businesses”.

Mr Beneby’s letter to the Prime Minister, which was being widely circulated on social media, added that the addition of 38 products to the price control regime would make “operations unfeasible” for small and mid-sized food stores since between 40-60 percent of their inventory will be covered by government-imposed mark-ups resulting in these items being sold at a loss.

But when asked about the concern of layoffs and closures, Mr Halkitis said: “Our concern we weigh in the balance that concern that I’m sure you’ve all heard, because I’m sure you’ve heard it because you asked me about it every week, the increase in prices and impact on consumers. We assure that there is a middle ground that we can reach. We don’t see this leading to, you know, massive business closures.

“We do not see that but we’ve asked the associations to provide us some numbers that we can look at. But we don’t anticipate that. We think it’s reasonable. What we are proposing, bear in mind that these initiatives are in place for six months, at which point we will review them and that review will take into account the impact on this.”

Pressed again on the fear of some business closures, he argued: “I don’t want to speculate. Businesses open and close every day. And I don’t think this is going to be the cause of closures personally. You know, so I don’t want to speculate on that. People open and close for different reasons.

As for reasons the retailers and wholesalers input was not sought before the decision, Mr Halkitis pointed to bringing relief.

“You want to bring relief and you want to bring relief quicklyWe have this idea haven’t been floated before we know what the what the issues are and like I said, we had a good meeting we thought, and we think we can move ahead, and hopefully people can start seeing the impact in their pockets.”