And, discussions continued with Controller Of Supplies, Lennox Nicholson when he made it clear that G.O.B. sympathizes with consumers and is working to control rising prices as much as their authority and jurisdiction will allow:
Lennox Nicholson, Controller Of Supplies
"We do have the commitment to further our discussions and information sharing with the community."
Reporter:
"And, how is the supplies control unit looking to differ between price gouging and like what you said just making a profit? Is this the case that you are saying look at this, you might look at this and say look the profit margin here is just exorbitant."
Lennox Nicholson, Controller Of Supplies
"We have access to certain administrative records, where we can determine the landed cost of goods. Cost, insurance, freight, taxes, duties and taxes, actually in most instances the basic food items do not pay duties, right? So, the government has a limited attitude in terms of what they an do by forgoing taxes on those products, so we can track landed costs for the goods, where the gap has always been is that intermediate step between importation and the retailer and that is where the cooperation of the retailers and the Chinese community will be very key and as the minister mentioned we will be engaging with the wholesalers and importers as well to make sure we get a handle on this because right now the public does not want to hear that we can't do anything, nobody is interested in hearing that. The last thing the public wants to hear is some public officer whining about a lack of resources and that there is so much work. No, they don't want to hear that, what they want is for us to do something and this is a major step in that direction."
7 News will keep following this story and bring you updates of what is unearthed when G.O.B. gets its meeting with wholesalers and importers.
