If the first social compact between the government and the distribution and manufacturing sectors did not result in savings in the pockets of some consumers, it was because they were not the target audience.
Chairman of the Barbados Private Sector Association Trisha Tannis made this clear as she insisted that the compact was developed to assist the more vulnerable in society.
“The compact is an attempt to give some relief on what we have worked together to determine is the core basket of goods that is consumed by those in the more vulnerable economic class. It attempts to do so by limiting and severely reducing the mark-up on those 47 items.
“It does not include your favorite brand of ice cream; it does not include your favorite brand of caviar; it does not include any of those items,” she stated.
“I want to say thank you to all the Barbadians who understood what this compact did for them. If it did nothing for some, then they were not the audience of this initiative. But for those persons [who] on the eve of the expiration of the first compact were asking for the compact not to be discontinued, those are the persons this compact was designed to benefit,” she later added.
While most of the distributors and retailers involved in the first compact signed on for the extension, others didn’t, including biscuit company Wibisco and the Barbados Egg and Poultry Producers’ Association. Tannis extended her thanks to these entities for their participation over the six months of the initial compact.
Speaking moments before the second compact was signed at Ilaro Court on Monday afternoon, Tannis said it was necessary this time around to explain exactly how the compact worked, what items were impacted and which retailers and distributors are involved so the public could have a better understanding.
Pointing to information shared in another section of the press from the Barbados Statistical Service, which indicated a rise in the prices of goods in Barbados even after the compact was implemented, Tannis argued that the agreement was not at fault. Instead, she said, the hike was led by an increase in vegetable prices.
“When I saw that, I reached for my Central Bank reports which suggest that at least for July and August, there was a significant reduction in that same retail index. What has been unearthed to me is that when you disaggregate the impact of the products in the basket, the prices of vegetables, ironically enough, caused that significant U turn shape of what was presented in yesterday’s headlines,” Tannis explained. She pointed out that at least a third of the basket of goods was weighted and influenced by produce.
