BRING THE EVIDENCE.
That’s the call from Chamber of Commerce president Andy Armstrong, reacting to charges from Minister of Finance and Economic Affairs Chris Sinckler that businesses, particularly supermarkets, were ripping off Barbadians with indiscriminate price increases on food items.
Last week, Sinckler referred to the almost doubling of the price of a mauby on a supermarket shelf as an example of price hiking but noted management claimed it was an error.
Armstrong noted there could have been another reason for the increase in the price of mauby and it had nothing to do with the Value Added Tax (VAT) increase or the removal of the Environmental Levy.
“Internationally, the price of sugar has gone up by over 30 per cent over the last six months and mauby syrup, which has a high content of sugar, might have been affected,” he suggested.
The Chamber of Commerce boss said contrary to the minister’s comments, his organisation had not seen any evidence about across-the-board increases.
Armstrong, however, recommended that Government, through its Ministry of Commerce, should resume publishing the prices of the basic basket of items in the public domain.
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