Opposition Leader, the Honourable Cora Richardson-Hodge, who is the host of the radio programme “Just the Facts”, on Monday, 28th March, basically repeated the question which she asked in a previous broadcast, aired on Monday 14th March. The question then was: “What Is Anguilla Doing about High Commodity Prices?”
This week’s question, similar to last week’s, was: “What Measures is Government Taking in Order to Manage Rising Costs?”
Both related questions were asked against the backdrop of what other governments in the region were doing to alleviate the economic hardships on their citizens. In a nutshell, Mrs. Richardson-Hodge answered herself, with the regretful lament, that nothing was being done by this government to “limit how much cost is being passed on to the consumer.”
Her co-host on “Just the Facts”, this past week, was her party affiliate, Mr. Jose Vanterpool. He, like Mrs. Richardson-Hodge, alluded to the measures that regional governments are taking to alleviate economic pressures on their citizens: “A number of countries are taking proactive steps in order to increase the spending power of their people,” he noted. “In Barbados, for example, Prime Minister, Mia Mottley, has resolved to adjust the freight charges on imports [and] according to nationalnews.com, average freight costs in Barbados before the pandemic was US$7,350 for a 20ft container, and US$8,000 for a 40ft container. During the pandemic, freight costs on the 20ft container jumped to US$20,000 and the cost of freight on the 40ft container increased to US$24,650.”
He continued: “To partially shield consumers, the Barbados Government is capping the cost of freight at pre-Covid levels, and will hold costs at that rate for twelve months, until March 31st 2023.”
Mr. Vanterpoool suggested that since duties were charged on the cost of the product plus insurance and freight, then Anguilla’s Government should take similar action to the Barbados Government, by capping the cost of freight at pre-Covid levels in order to reduce the cost of items on the shelves for consumers.
In addition, as regards to the GST, both Mrs. Richardson-Hodge and Mr. Vanterpool referred to a meeting that members of the Opposition held with Mr. Adam Pile, Deputy Director of the Overseas Territories Department in the Foreign Commonwealth Office. The meeting was held on 23rd March during his recent visit to Anguilla.
Mr. Vanterpool stated that during that meeting Mr. Pile asked, “What is the mood on the ground?” And according to Mr. Vanterpool: “We had to be honest with him and tell him that our people are having a very hard time, right now. We told him that it is not that the people are opposed to taxes, or not in favour of a GST, but that we would not want the people to be burdened with GST at this time.
“When we explained to him the current cost of living, he pointed out that he has indeed noticed how expensive goods are. He was on the island just before the last election, and in comparing prices on the shelves now, with the prices back then, he would have observed a vast difference. And, he sees the effects that inflation, on its own, is having.
“We talked to Mr. Pile about the impact that the implementation of GST will have on us as a people, many of whom are finding it difficult to make ends meet. We explained to him that the implementation of GST in July could make it impossible to manage the cost of living – this will come with a number of other social factors.”
Mrs. Cora Richardson-Hodge concurred with with Mr. Vanterpool, but then, noted what was being done in other countries of the region to ease the burden of the high cost of living. She observed: “Let’s look at Antigua. There, the Government has limited gas prices; in St. Kitts the Government is looking at increasing salaries; in the BVI, they are reducing the customs duties by 5%, and oil import taxes are being cut by 50%. But nothing has been put in place by this Government to limit how much cost is being passed on to the ultimate consumer.
