Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley is calling on regional conglomerates to limit profit margins on essential goods and adopt the island’s Price Compact as a model for helping Caribbean consumers cope with rising costs.
Mottley made the call Monday night while addressing the opening of a BDS$46 million Massy Stores branch at Worthing, where she renewed her appeal for businesses to accept lower margins on basic necessities.
She previously raised the issue during a meeting with Caribbean private sector leaders in St. Lucia last month, arguing that major regional companies have a role to play in easing the cost-of-living pressures facing households.
Mottley urged supermarkets to consider a 15% markup on a basket of essential goods, while allowing higher margins on nonessential products.
“The simple premise is not that you have no markup, but that you limit your markup to 15 per cent,” she said.
The prime minister argued that keeping basic goods affordable was essential to national stability, particularly in small island states where economic inequality can have wider social consequences.
“As a country of 166 square miles, where national security and national stability matter, and where we do not have the luxury of creating a space for the haves and the have-nots … this country must guarantee people the ability to eat, to remain clean, and to remain capable of cleaning their environment to avoid public health crises,” Mottley said.
She previously singled out Massy over its profits in Barbados, arguing that the company could have accepted lower earnings and left more money in consumers’ pockets.
At Monday’s event, Massy officials announced plans to reduce markups on another 100 everyday products before the end of the week. The items include tuna, corned beef, rice, feminine hygiene products and diapers.
Mottley welcomed the move and said more than half of the products covered under the Price Compact remain cheaper than they were when the initiative was introduced in July 2022.
She said Barbados’ experience should not remain limited to the island and urged regional governments and businesses to explore how the model could be expanded across the Caribbean.
“It is not sufficient for us to have practised and done the Price Compact in Barbados and to have achieved the results that we have achieved in the last four years and believe that we should keep it to ourselves,” she said.
Mottley pointed to continuing geopolitical uncertainty, including conflict in the Middle East, as a factor contributing to volatility in global supply chains. She said uncertainty makes it harder for shippers and suppliers to plan and can ultimately drive up consumer prices.
The prime minister called for renewed regional discussions following the issue’s consideration at the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) summit in St. Lucia in July.
“If we can do that from where you stand as a regional multinational corporation that is delivering for people and where I stand as the lead prime minister for CARICOM Single Market and Economy … then I believe that the people of the region can benefit from the value which we add,” Mottley said.
She said the broader goal should be ensuring Caribbean families can continue to afford essential food, water, sanitation and other necessities despite global economic pressures.
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