Found at: http://www.anguillaguide.com/article/articleprint/5896/-1/140/
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CHIEF MINISTER PROMISES TO LOOK AT HIGH COST OF FOOD Exemptions On Rice, Flour, Sugar, Oil, etc.
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Anguilla’s Chief Minister, Osbourne Fleming, has promised “to do something” to help relieve residents suffering from a rapid escalation in the price of basic food items. He made the pledge in the island’s House of Assembly on Tuesday, April 29, while commenting on a motion by Minister of Finance, Victor Banks, to provide duty-free concessions for a businessman setting up a warehouse on the island.
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Chief Minister addressing the House with Cabinet
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“It is difficult at this time for this Government to look at giving some easement to the people but we have to,” Mr. Fleming stated. “I am sure that all of us today are listening to what is happening in the region and by extension, the world. Countries in the region are grabbling with initiatives to help their people in these days.
“When we see flour moving from twenty-something dollars a bag to sixty-five dollars, we need to open our eyes. When we consider that today in St. Kitts (for argument sake), where I understand there is not a tin of milk on the shelves, prices are escalating like crazy; and we have to see what easement, what duty-free concessions can we give to alleviate the problem in our country.
“We have to come back here [in the House of Assembly] and the Government has to take the dive to help alleviate some of the problems in Anguilla. I predicted to my colleagues that by the end of the year we might see gas prices rising to US$7.00 per gallon. ANGLEC is on the verge of increasing its surcharge. Everything is sky-rocketing. The price of crude oil is over 120 dollars per barrel…How do we address helping our people?
“Maybe the time has come for the Government to look at exemption for basic food items: rice, sugar, floor, oil and so on. We have to find some way to help the people of Anguilla. I know the Minister of Finance might say ‘this is a hard nut to crack’ but the fact is that when these circumstances face our people, we have to rise to the occasion to alleviate some of the problems. What might happen is that we probably can cut our spending and ease the people when it comes to exemptions…but the reality is that this is the world in which we live today where cost of living is flying in the air…and the possibility is that this can get worse.
“It behooves us all and the people of Anguilla to stop and think that the waste in electricity should stop, the waste in driving all over the country must stop, cut down as much as we can because things are changing. I say all of this to say that while we are looking at duty-free concessions [for the warehouse project] I would like to suggest in this House that we look at duty-free concessions somewhere to alleviate the problems of our people today.”
Replying, Mr. Banks agreed with the Chief Minister’s suggestion. He said that his Ministry had recently looked at a document on rising food and energy prices issued by the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank. “It is important that we bring attention to these matters in this Honourable House and I am grateful to the Chief Minister for doing that,” Mr. Banks said in addressing Deputy Speaker, Keesha Webster.
The Minister of Finance continued: “On the other side of the equation we, as a Government, are facing the same pressure and the concessions that the Government makes must be in the context of what it can afford, while it seeks to provide for the essential needs of its people. Whatever concessions we make, we have a responsibility to provide for education, health, other social needs, for infrastructure and for a range of services that are critical to national development.
“The focus should be on those of the lower end of the economic ladder, those persons who require a social safety net to enable them to survive in this period of spiraling prices. I fully concur with the comments of the Honourable Chief Minister.”