Minister of Energy Kerrie Symmonds has insisted that Government is not to blame for the rising cost of fuel products in Barbados, as he also suggested that the country may have to consider going the route of restricting vehicle use and other measures taken by other nations.
Acknowledging a 61 per cent increase in fuel over the last five months, Symmonds said that was a result of the fluctuations in market prices. He said Cabinet discussed the matter as recently as last Thursday, a week after Prime Minister Mia Mottley said her administration would put a cap on the tax charged on the cost of fuel if oil prices continue to increase.
Mottley’s announcement came on the heels of public complaints about the prices of gas, diesel and LPG increasing yet again.
“There are some very serious economic calculations that we have to look at.
It is not a matter that is being taken lightly by any stretch of the imagination by the Government.
“It is a matter that requires the fullest consideration and the most careful analysis of how we treat to these matters,” Symmonds said.
The Energy Minister said the country may have to consider options such as carpooling and limiting vehicle use.
“The reality is this is how the rest of the world operates. There are parts of the world where people are carpooling on a daily basis. There are parts of the world where people drive into the city [based on] vehicle numbers. So, if your vehicle is an odd number, you are able to enter the city today and if it is an even number then you go tomorrow. We have been very fortunate to have been shielded from some of these things but the reality is, it is a conversation that the country is going to have to have if the country is going to maturely and seriously treat to some of these issues which are really beyond our immediate capacity to simply absorb,” he said.
Symmonds added: “That is said without prejudice to any step that the Government may take. And, as the Prime Minister has already indicated, we will continue to deliberate so that we can determine, after having met as well with the social partnership in short order, what steps we may take with regards to capping any particular type of tax that is in existence; where that cap would take place would also have to be determined.”
The Energy Minister was also adamant that he and his Cabinet and government colleagues were not immune to the pain of rising costs.
“Contrary to what those people who spend a lot of wasted time on social media say, there is no Minister who can go to a pump in Barbados and say ‘fill my tank’ and not pull his pocket personally.
“All of us drive our own motor cars, with the exception of the Prime Minister of Barbados…. But all of us are consumers in the same way our constituents are. We are not shielded in any way…. We’re all in this boat together,” Symmonds declared. (DP)
