Tobago Chamber: Stop-start measures bad for business

Martin George
Martin George

The Tobago Business Chamber has expressed serious concern about what it calls the Government’s “stop-start mechanisms” for tackling the covid19 pandemic.

The chamber’s president Martin George said on Thursday the reimplementation of anti-covid19 measures will continue to affect Tobago businesses that are already struggling to stay afloat.

“The difficulty with this is that when you have these drastic stops and starts, it is detrimental to business activity and it creates systemic shocks throughout the entire business community because it is difficult for business persons to be able to plan properly in terms of their staffing, their requirements, their needs,” he said in a WhatsApp voice note.

George said income and expenses will also be negatively affected.

“So we would prefer to see a more gradual and graduated type of increase in the restrictions.”

On Wednesday, Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh announced a ban on gatherings for entertainment and concerts. Beaches have also been closed.

He said weddings and funerals will be limited ten people and congregations at places of worship will be reduced from 50 per cent to 25 per cent capacity.

The public service will revert to 50 per cent office attendance on a rotational basis.

The Health Ministry also recently announced a ban on in-house dining at cinemas and restaurants.

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