Dear Editor,
Whilst the socio-economic developments on the Island are on the rise, namely the inter islands transport ferry service and the new ban on single-use disposables, government should also look into the possibility of subsidizing or seeking alternative cost-efficient cargo/freight services to the Island, as this will play an integral role towards the advancement of the economic sector, particularly the small businesses which make up an estimated 90% of the island’s economy.
This added value will also relieve entrepreneurs, supermarkets and hardware stores of the stringent measures put in place as a result of the Covid pandemic, which also impacted the hospitality food and beverage sector.
As a result of the new measures, namely the ‘ban on single-use plastic’ which was enforced particularly in the hospitality sector and supermarkets. This brought an additional cost of 2-4x the amount spent on regular disposable products that is now being absorbed into small business profits. The subsidy would also help to ease with the general increase in food, gas and construction materials.
In speaking with several supermarkets, restaurants, guest houses and entrepreneurs, we are all in agreement that a subsidy of at least 30% would indeed be not only necessary, but imperative for the cost of goods and services to maintain some form of normalcy. This will also be more in line with the favourable increase in minimum wage, rather than having prices go up even further, we can now level the playing field.
Vaughn M. Sams
