Director of Trade Matthan Walter
Trade officials Monday dismissed a video circulating on social media warning Dominicans to brace themselves for a scarcity of essential goods and services as a result of rising prices for petroleum products.
“There is a video recording going around on social media stating that major shipping lines would be grounded in the next two weeks and nobody will be shipping and that there’s going to be a catastrophic effect, not in those words as a result of which many of the products that we consume including rice and sugar will become a difficulty for us in the region,” said Trade Director, Matthan Walter.
“I want to state that this is simply fear mongering,” he said, adding that some of the products named in the video recording “because of the CSME (CARICOM Single Market and Economy) arrangements that we have we import the majority of our rice from Guyana and our sugar also from Guyana”.
He said Dominica has lately been importing sugar from Belize and as a result “our rice and sugar do not come from too far afield”. The CSME allows for the free movement of goods, skills, labour and services across the 15-member regional integration movement with little or no hinderance. This story will be updated.
