THE LOCAL company holding a franchise for international brands Coca-Cola, Sprite, Fanta, Canada Dry and Schweppes Tonic Water wants Government to go easy on International Monetary Fund (IMF) recommendations of a soft drink tax.
And Minister of Industry, International Business, Commerce and Small Business Development Donville Inniss has advised caution on such taxation, given the inherent negative implications for business.
Ray Chee-A-Tow, the chief commercial officer at Banks Holdings Ltd, said yesterday that if Government were to implement the IMF recommendation, the BHL’s Barbados Bottling Company (BBC), which produces soft drinks, would suffer a “substantial” negative impact.
A major concern was that any new taxation would have to be passed on to consumers in a market which had its share of economic troubles and people were worried about stretching their disposable income. (TY)
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