Government’s fuel import bill nearly tripled in the first quarter of this year when compared to the same period last year, Minister of Energy and Business Kerrie Symmonds disclosed Wednesday as he cautioned that could rise further.
According to him, the Mia Mottley-led administration spent a total of $455 million on imported petroleum products from January to April this year, while for the same period last year the bill was $162 million.
“That statistic alone tells you the nature of the uphill battle this little island is in, in order to maintain the quality of life, the standard of living, all the things that we have become accustomed to, all of which are fuelled by the fuel which we import, the petroleum products that we import, and the cost of it has escalated alarmingly,” Symmonds said.
“It perhaps gives you an idea as to why it has been so challenging for the Ministry of Finance to say that we are going to step in and intervene again and again in an effort to shield [consumers] because you can only chase prices for so long before you drill a hole at the bottom of your economy and sink your whole ship.”
Symmonds added that it was likely the amount of money spent on petroleum products will increase as Barbados continues to face challenges due to global developments.
He made the disclosures during the Barbado s National Standards Institution (BNSI) Visibility Conference, themed Quality a Must for Success, at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre, where he stressed the importance of businesses, like gas stations, using accurate and traceable measurements and pointed to Government’s efforts to ensure consumers are not cheated.
Symmonds indicated that the draft Metrology Bill which is before the House of Assembly will bring certainty to this.
The legislation will align the practice of metrology in Barbados with international standards and international developments in the area.
Symmonds said it will implement a system of regulation that will ensure the accuracy of measurement equipment used in every area of life.
“It is something that a lot of people in Barbados don’t appreciate the importance of until it hits you in your pocket,” he said.
“If I go in the gas station and I spend $4 on a litre of gas as I now have to do and I put in 20 litres in my vehicle at $4 each, I am spending $80. But if the pump at the gas station which I go to is not properly [calibrated] and . . . as there now is, there is an inadequacy in the legislation to ensure that we can make sure that the measurements are done . . . in accordance with the best of modern standards, the best of practices in the interest of saving you, the consumer, money, then that $4 that I am paying will actually be measured at $4.05 and I end up paying for my 20 litres at an extra dollar,” the Energy Minister explained.
“Now that might seem to some people as nothing, but then when you reflect on the fact that one extra dollar multiplied by 10 000 litres being sold is going to give the same gas station operator $10 000, you understand that the consumer of the country has been raped financially,” he added. (AH)
