Consumer group concerned about customer compact

The island’s main consumer advocacy group is adamant that the six-month Social Partnership Food Prices Compact which expires on January 31, has not benefited consumers.

Executive Director of the Barbados Consumer Empowerment Network (BCEN) Maureen Holder said on Tuesday that even with the cap that had been put in place on 44 essential items in July last year, prices in the supermarkets remain too high.

She is warning that Barbadians will be worse off if the Barbados Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI) sticks to its position that members may not renew the contract when they meet again with Government to review the arrangement.

President of the Chamber Anthony Branker has said that the only thing they are certain of is that the organisation is willing to listen to what the Government comes up with and to have a discussion.

“What I can tell you is that even at the level of some retailers and distributors, they view another compact as one that is going to be very burdensome. Right now they are saying that they are unsure about how they will be able to go into another compact,” Branker has said.

But Holder is asking if the compact, which was designed to ease the high cost of living for consumers, did not benefit retailers, how then could it benefit householders?

“The businesses and supermarkets were open consistently during COVID. They, more than other businesses, should be making a profit because Barbadians were lining up at the grocery stores consistently just to keep food in their homes. So you mean they can’t do more of a shielding?” the BCEN executive director asked during an interview with Barbados TODAY.

“In our view, our fundamental question, and I guess if they want to be exact and scientific, we would then have to determine how, and in what ways the compact benefited consumers because, essentially, if I listened to Anthony Branker, he is saying that the retailers are not likely to enter into the MOU again because it did not benefit them and it impacted their bottomline, which is profit. The question is, how were consumers benefited? I did not hear consumers talk about any benefits either,” she declared.

“Ask the consumers to say whether those cost-savings measures caused them to save $20 or $100 off their spending? They would say not, because first of all, the prices were already too high. So even if you keep it in a particular range, they are still going to be too high because people’s spending power has not increased,” the consumers’ spokesman contended.

“If they don’t go back into that MOU, we are expected that Barbadians will pay even more for the cost of food. But shipping costs are coming down,” she added.

Holder argued that the Government will now be left on its own if the retail sector fails to renew the compact.

“The Government is therefore left to find temporary price control measures. You will have to do it through sunset clauses on various retail items. Government is going to either have to increase money in social safety nets for the longer term, use price subsidies or use the sunset clauses from time to time on certain food items so that consumers can breathe. If not, things are going to go haywire in this country,” predicted the consumer advocate.

She said it is a very circular problem and the buck now stops at the Government.

“I believe the business community in Barbados is very greedy,” Holder charged.

Meanwhile, she pointed out that if the Barbados Light and Power Company (BLPC) is granted an increase in basic electricity rates, that is going to “add insult to injury” for consumers. (EJ)