Minister of Agriculture Robert Persaud has said that there is no justification for Jamaica’s call for a suspension of the Common External Tariff (CET) on rice since Guyana can supply the island nation’s average consumption needs.
The minister made the statement during a press conference held at the Ministry of Agriculture on Wednesday.
According to the minister, a number of rice exporters have signed contracts with Jamaican buyers.
He said Guyana has not agreed to the call for the suspension of the CET and if there was justification for such a waiver, Guyana would certainly support it. “Guyana has not agreed to the waiver at this point in time since we don’t believe [it is needed],” the minister said.
Persaud pointed out that even though there might be other markets Guyana could sell to, the country must hold true to its commitments to regional trading partners, in the spirit of Caricom.
The minister also pointed out that heavily subsidized rice coming from the US could hurt countries like Guyana and Suriname.
Jamaica Commerce Minister Karl Samuda on Monday night disclosed that Jamaica had ordered 30,000 tonnes of rice from the United States, the article said.
“…Mr Samuda said Jamaica had to take urgent action to ensure that it continued to receive adequate supplies of rice,” a Radio Jamaica report said.
Meanwhile, Persaud said monitoring would be stepped up as there was suspicion that some amount of smuggling of rice out of the country was taking place. The minister said that in terms of monitoring to ensure than supplies are made available for Guyana, there are three levels of such monitoring: at the rice fields, in the factories and at the Guyana Rice Development Board (GRDB).
