Corporate Barbados is hoping for a more respectful relationship between consumers and the business community and for a reduction in commodity prices in the New Year.
In his review of 2022 and his outlook for 2023, president of the Barbados Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI) Anthony Branker said he wants to see an end to the suspicion among consumers that businesses are only interested in profiting at their expense.
“My hope for the New Year is that we see a world where the volatility subsides and that we can get pricing contained and pricing reduced across the various commodities and items and that we would see a level of respect between business and consumers so that persons don’t think that businesses are out to price gouge and take advantage of them. I think we really need to respect that and to work harmoniously,” Branker suggested in a recent interview with Barbados TODAY.
He is happy that this Christmas is shaping up to be much better for the sector than last year, when the COVID-19 impact put a damper on retail activity.
“Reports coming to me suggest that the business community is seeing some rebound over 2021. We are hoping that with the VAT-free day on Wednesday persons would take advantage of that. It’s going to be a difficult one to measure because people will not shop as heavily on the days preceding that VAT-free day. But overall, we are hopeful that this Christmas will be an improvement over Christmas 2021,” the head of the Chamber said.
Branker identified the war in Ukraine as one of the biggest negatives for the business sector in Barbados because of its impact on world pricing and the cost of goods and materials.
“I think that that would have been one of the most negative things coming so soon after COVID with all of the supply chain challenges, and then to have such high prices and obviously people are feeling it even still. I think that has been the most negatively impactful occurrence for 2022,” he stressed.
The spokesman recalled that the year started with some apprehension surrounding COVID and its impact on the island and on businesses. However, he said that the ease in the public health restrictions brought a glimmer of hope to corporate Barbados.
“As we saw a relaxation of some of the protocols and we saw tourist numbers started to increase, it obviously then gave some stimulus to the business community. The severe supply challenges continued as we had difficulty sourcing products consistently. The war in Ukraine brought on significant concerns about inflation that continue up until this day.
“In general, though, I think that as long as we had gotten the tourism sector going again, we would have seen business see some level of positive rebound. But inflation obviously is quite a disturbing issue for us as we would want Barbadians to be able to afford all that they need to enjoy life,” he added.
But for Branker, the most welcomed news for 2022 in the business community was signalled by the end of the protocols and the arrival of more and more tourists.
“I think that was a positive not only for the individual Barbadian, but for businesses…because certainly, our tourism numbers started to rebound in a significant way with that, and as long as we have tourists on the island, there is a spinoff benefit for various sectors,” he pointed out.
(emmanuel joseph@barbadostoday.bb)
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