Gopee-Scoon: Government keeping food prices down

TRADE and Industry Minister Paula Gopee-Scoon says government has been working consistently over the last nine years to ensure citizens can continue to buy basic food items at affordable prices.

In contrast, she said, the UNC did the exact opposite when it was in office from 2010-2015.

Gopee-Scoon was speaking in the 2024/2025 budget debate in the House of Representatives on October 7.

She rejected repeated UNC claims that government has done nothing to make basic food affordable.

"Even in a period of declining revenues, since 2015, every year the government has gotten a suspension of the CET (common external tariff) on a number of basic food items, including canned corned beef, sardines and tuna, cheddar cheese, canned tuna, black tea, canned sardines and pharmaceuticals, with revenue foregone of over $1.1 billion, making these goods cheaper and providing savings to all consumers."

She reminded MPs discussions about the CET occur at the level of Caricom's Council for Trade and Development, which deliberates on the tariffs on different commoodities entering the region.

Gopee-Scoon identified vegetable/soya bean oil, olive oil, peanut butter, black pepper, cereal, condensed milk, instant coffee and ground coffee as other basics from which value added tax (VAT) has been removed to make them affordable.

She said the UNC continues to "hoodwink" the population that it removed VAT on 7,000 basic food items while it was in government. She said information from the ministry showed these items were luxuries and not basic foods.

"The VAT-exempt list is principally designed to support the poor and the vulnerable in society. It was not meant to buffer those with greater purchasing power."

Government MPs thumped their desks when Gopee-Scoon said, "As a result, this government sought to bring the VAT-exempt list back to its original moorings by removing luxury food items such as dates, artichokes and maraschino cherries."

In responsible to inaudible comments from some UNC MPs, she added that maraschino cherries were frequently bought by certain people who enjoy having "cocktails, morning, noon and night."

The UNC, she continued, wished the population would forget about its last stint in government.

"The poor performance by the UNC was characterised by a 71 per cent increase in food prices from 2010-2015."

Gopee-Scoon said this happened during a period when there was no war, pandemic or supply-chain disruptions.

"It was a time of plenty, where oil prices were above US$100 a barrel – and yet still the UNC government did nothing to advance agriculture and food production in Trinidad and Tobago, or significantly boost manufacturing."

With inflation recorded at 0.3 per cent in July, Gopee-Scoon said under the UNC that figure was 8.5 per cent in 2014 and 5.5 per cent in 2015.

Referring to Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar's budget reply on October 4, Gopee-Scoon said it was clear she is willing to accept that the private sector is performing better under the PNM than under the UNC.

In 2015, she continued, non-energy manufacturing exports were $15.2 billion.

While the level of those exports fell to $9.6 billion in 2016, primarily due to the closure of the Arcelor Mittal Steel Plant, Gopee-Scoon said they rose afterwards.

"Between the period 2016-2023, non-energy manufacturing exports grew by 3.7 billion (from $9.6 to $13.3 billion)."

Gopee-Scoon said non-manufacturing exports to other Caricom countries also saw an increase, from $3.6 billion in 2016 to $5.3 billion last year.

She listed Grenada, St Lucia and Germany as three major destinations for TT's non-manufacturing exports, with the levels increasing steadily from 2015-2023.

From 2015 to this year, Gopee-Scoon continued, there have been 71 trade missions and shows which have allowed local non-energy sector businesses to explore investment opportunities overseas.

Using Ghana as an example, Gopee-Scoon said biscuits, software and car-wash devices are some local products which have been able to enter that market as a result.

She added that Ghana is also being used as a platform for local businesses to seek further investment opportunities in other African countries such as Benin, Togo, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

Government MPs thumped their desks when Gopee-Scoon said it was against this background that the private sector and Trinidad and Tobago's Caricom partners are happy with the PNM being in government.

She claimed these groups have no desire to see the UNC in office.

"Never again."