The Tribune

By LEANDRA ROLLE

Tribune Staff Reporter

lrolle@tribunermedia.net

PRIME Minister Phillip “Brave” Davis said his administration believes gas retailers can profit in the current business environment despite their complaints and demands for adjustments to the price-controlled margin regime.

Petroleum dealers temporarily stopped selling diesel last month in protest of their conditions.

“They did not have to stop selling to get my attention, but I think at the end of the day, there has to be a balance here,” Mr Davis said yesterday. “There has to be a balance between profitability and affordability.

“Unfortunately, we are in a vortex. We have a very consumptive society. Everything that we have is important. We can’t control what is happening in other jurisdictions, and a lot of times, what happens in other jurisdictions impact us here in a very negative way, so until such time as we are able to control some of those things that we can, that’s what we’re working on.”

Mr Davis said the government is trying to see how best it can help businesses grow while ensuring affordability for Bahamian consumers.

“We still believe that there is room for profitability as they are presently constructed and we continue to listen to them to see how we could help and the minister of economic affairs will indicate that we did move to help them last year when oil prices was going out of the roof and things were just becoming crunch,” he said.

“We see an easing of inflation. We see an easing of prices around the world. That will come to bear here in The Bahamas soon. It takes a little while for us to catch it because of supply chain and chain issues but as soon as things catch up, there’ll be a levelling off soon.”

Gas station operators have been urging the government to increase their margins by 50 per cent, which would raise them from the present 54 cents per gallon of gasoline to 81 cents.

Their margins have not been adjusted in 12 years despite rising inflation.

Economic Affairs Minister Michael Halkitis has repeatedly said officials want a solution everyone can live with and that the government would not reduce its margin.