Symmonds tell local manufacturers he’s willing to discuss healthier options

The 100 per cent increase in the tax on sugar-sweetened beverages has been a long time in coming and manufacturers now have to find a way to deal with it.

This is the response from Minister of Energy and Business Development Kerrie Symmonds, in response to complaints from manufacturers that the decision to raise the tax from 10 per cent to 20 per cent would hurt their operations.

Moreover, with a promise from Prime Minister Mia Mottley that by October her administration would do an assessment to see if at that time a similar tax could be implemented on foods with high salt content, manufacturers have indicated that should this happen, it would result in a “detrimental impact on both manufacturers and consumers”.

However, while suggesting that manufacturers should not expect changes to the tax measure, Symmonds said he was prepared to have a conversation with them on how to produce healthier options.

“I think what they must now do is to try to grapple with the realities of where we are at and what the Minister of Finance has quite rightly said. This has been a long time in coming,” said Symmonds.

He suggested to beverage producers that Barbados would be a healthier place if there were healthier choices to eat and to drink.

“It is not to say that we should not do things in moderation, but there is a role for even the manufacturers of beverages and food to play in ensuring that the health of the nation is foremost in the mind,” he said.

“I don’t think the conversation I want to have with them is that they should pay less taxes. I think the conversation I want to have with them is ‘how can they meet us part way in this journey to make sure that their children, my children and your children are able to [be part of] a healthy generation for tomorrow’. That is a conversation being had in New York City, it is a conversation that is being had all around in the world in every major capital and I think that Barbados has now to step up to the plate,” he added.

Symmonds, who was responding to a question from Barbados TODAY on the sidelines of a business fair and expo at his ministry’s Warrens Office Complex on Friday, stressed that while he understood producers of liquid refreshment and food were concerned about economics they should equally be concerned about the health of the nation.

Late last month, Minister of People Empowerment and Elder Affairs Kirk Humphrey reported an increase in the number of people seeking prostheses due mainly to amputation as a result of diabetes.

Sugary beverages are said to be associated with an increased risk of getting type-2 diabetes.

Symmonds said “We have an economy which has had a long history with sweetened beverages, I get that. But equally now we must all have a conversation about how we make sure that the food and beverage intake of the country is as healthy as possible and that is something I am prepared to have by way of a conversation,” he said.

The doubling of the tax, which is aimed at discouraging the consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages thereby reducing the likelihood of developing a non-communicable disease, will take effect next Friday, April 1, 2022.

The tax was introduced at 10 per cent in 2015, designed to earn government some $10 million in the first year.

During her Budget presentation earlier this month, Prime Minister Mia Mottley disclosed that it was her Government’s intention to develop guidelines for manufacturers to reduce the sugar and salt content in their offerings.

“It is always our preference to work with manufacturers of these sweetened beverages to reduce the level of these sugars and salts and, therefore, the Ministry of Health and Wellness will develop nutritional guidelines with sugar and salt content that are acceptable. Manufacturers, including those within communities, will be given the appropriate timeframe to transition to the new standards,” said Mottley.

“The onus, my friends, is on manufacturers to fall within these guidelines rather than to have a Minister of Finance intervene at the level of taxation. Drop the level of sugar, drop the level of salt and the level of prices would drop concomitantly,” she said.

Healthy lifestyle advocates and activists including the Healthy Caribbean Coalition; the World Health Organisation; and the Barbados Childhood Obesity Prevention Coalition, an affiliate of the Heart and Stroke Foundation, have all supported the increase in the tax on sugar-sweetened beverages and plans by Government to put a similar tax on products with high salt content.
marlonmadden@barbadostoday.bb