Price gouging will not be tolerated

People have been complaining about a recent hike of pricing and Chairman of the Barbados Private Sector Association, Edward Clarke said that this behaviour would not be tolerated.

Many associated this price hike with the introduction of the novel 2019 coronavirus, as in addition to this price hike, items such as hand sanitisers and Lysol wipes have been cleared off the shelves of many supermarkets and pharmacies.

Speaking during a recent press conference, Clarke stressed that this type of behaviour was frowned upon.

“The private sector is going to play its part. We know that there are concerns by the public about price gouging at this time, globally, we have heard in the news reports about some of that taking place in some markets, and this is not something that we should tolerate in Barbados, and I certainly will not be someone that tolerates price gouging anywhere in Barbados. We believe that even the hoarding of supplies is somethingthat needs to be discouraged,” he said.

“I think we all need to understand that the weakest link is still a problem for us," he added.

It is against this backdrop that Clarke stated that he did not see the sense in hoarding products as he believed that those persons who will have to do without certain products, such as the hand sanitsers would become the weakest link.

“We must protect ourselves and our scountry from that situation. We must all be selfless and not selfish at this time, there is no greed needed in Barbados at this time,” he said.

He believed this was the time for us all to be working together, whether political party or member of the private sector, it was imperative that we all came together to ensure that Barbados came out of the COVID-19 epidemic strong.

Clarke highlighted that there would be some stress to the economy as a result of he virus, however, he believed this was not the time to panic as he was positive of the fact that Barbados would be able to make it through this time. (CLJB)