Senior Reporter
andrea.perez-sobers@guardian.co.tt
Caribbean businesses are being urged to accept lower profits on essential goods as part of a regional pact aimed at shielding families from the rising cost of living.
Speaking during a high-level private sector session with key Caricom stakeholders on Monday, Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley called for a formal compact between governments, businesses and labour to keep the prices of basic food, sanitary and household items within reach of ordinary citizens.
She argued that while companies are entitled to earn profits, businesses also have a responsibility to ensure essential goods do not become unaffordable.
“Food, sanitary items and basic household goods cannot keep moving beyond the reach of ordinary families while others take every dollar they can get. There is room for profit, but there must also be room for conscience,” she said.
Mottley said the Caribbean should lead by example and demonstrate that governments, businesses and workers can work together during difficult economic times.
“The Caribbean must lead from the front on this. Keep faith with the people who built these societies. Prove that in difficult times, we still know how to stand together,” she said.
She pointed to Barbados’ experience with similar arrangements, saying efforts to limit price increases on essential products had largely succeeded in protecting consumers.
Mottley stressed that the proposed compact would not apply across every product category but would focus on the items families rely on every day.
“There is no basis, and forgive me, but Massy cannot make BDS$49 million in profit in Barbados, and middle-class people can’t afford to buy food,” she said.
“They could have made BDS$20 million in profit in these circumstances, and they would have been just as good, just as happy, and BDS$29 million would have been left in the pockets of the people who have to decide whether to eat today or not to eat.”
She made it clear that businesses were not being asked to sacrifice profits on premium products.
“We’re not asking you to do it on cheeses and nuts and all these fancy things. One cheese, and quite frankly, we need to be able to make sure that we leave here with a common approach,” she stressed.
Mottley argued that if businesses across the region adopted the same approach, it would prevent companies from exploiting consumers while helping to preserve social stability.
“If there is a common approach, then invariably it becomes difficult for others to exploit the fact that you are prepared to offer on the table something back in order to ensure that we can sustain the journey, rather than you making extraordinary profits, but living in a society that you can’t protect yourself because your profits are going into security and other considerations,” she outlined.
She proposed that governments, labour representatives and the private sector identify between 30 and 40 essential food, sanitary and cleaning products that would form part of the regional agreement.
“I hope that at the high level, we can agree on 30 or 40 items in terms of food, in terms of sanitary and cleaning items, that are essential for every family to be able to live in the Caribbean,” Mottley added.
