-milk, chicken, beef, potatoes included
Caricom’s trade body has approved suspension of the Common External Tariff (CET) on three categories in the wake of rising costs of commodities region-wide.
According a press release from the Caricom Secretariat the Council for Trade and Economic Development (COTED) approved the suspension after considering recommendations from a technical team at its March 7 and 8 meeting held in The Bahamas. The team was appointed to review a set of commodities which have a significant weight in the Consumer Price Index and found that the commodities are not significantly produced or have a close substitute in the Region and attract a CET. The CET is the only instrument available for intervention at the regional level to address the issue of the rising cost of living.
In the first category of commodities the CET “would be suspended for most part to zero percent for two years ending 4 March 2010,” the Secretariat said. These items include cheddar cheese, oil, raisin bran/corn flakes and dried breakfast cereals, baby formula and baking powder. In the second category the suspension of the CET was granted for six months on juices for infant use.
The third category consists of items that attract a rate of 0-5 per cent or are on List A of the CET and which member states need only notify the Secretariat of the rate they would be applying.
List A of the CET reflects the grant of an indefinite suspension of the CET rate to member states, the release said. The items in this category include milk, chicken, beef, lamb, onions, oatmeal, beans and potatoes. Ceramic skins and tiles are also in this category. “Member States must notify the CARICOM Secretariat by April 4 of the items on which they would wish to join other Member States in suspending the CET on items agreed by the COTED,” the release said.
The Heads of Government (HoGs) noted the approved suspensions at their 19th Inter-sessional Meeting in Nassau following the Special COTED meeting. Member states must put administrative procedures in place in order for the suspensions to be effected.
The HoGs gave the mandate to address the issue of the rising cost of living through the CET following the 12th Special Meeting of HoGs of the Caribbean Community in Georgetown last December 7. This issue and poverty were among subjects discussed at that special meeting.
At the close of its 25th Meeting in Georgetown in January, COTED asked member states to submit national lists of items on which they would be prepared to reduce or remove the CET. “COTED took this decision, after lengthy, intense but incomplete discussions in search of a single common list to fulfil the mandate” of the HoGs.
