Economist, Trade and Sustainability Specialist Dr Eisenhower Douglas has said Dominica must take steps to correct its balance of trade deficit.
Douglas, who represented the Minister of Trade Dr Collin McIntyre at the opening ceremony of the Buy Dominica Carnival Extravaganza on Wednesday, said “We import more than half a billion dollars more than we export and that is something that we have to try to correct.”
He added that if the public supports local products more, that in turn will benefit the country by creating employment and reduce the balance of trade deficit.
Douglas advised local producers that they owe consumers ‘a duty of care’ if they want to gain support.
“The producers also have a duty of care in terms of ensuring that their products are of good quality, that the prices are competitive, and the supplies are reliable.” Douglas pointed out.
The Buy Dominica Carnival Extravaganza started on Wednesday 06th February, 2013 and is expected to continue until Wednesday 13th February, 2013.
Various producers will come out to sell their items which will include candles, jewellery, bath soaps and other items.
these guys come on the news and speak sounding so eloquent with their ideaology, but i would like to know where are the tangibles to go with them? these bureaucrates have yet to implement any form of solution to those socio-economic issues but expect we the people to buy what dominica does not produce or have! how is this gap being addressed is what he should be touching on.
if you “would like to know where are the tangibles to go with them”,,,
All allyou have to do is ask him “What happen to Hamptead” you know,,,
Garçon is mista dem dat is part of d problem,,,
Dey still have Belfast dere as a distribution Center for Colgate-Palmolive wi,,,
And what happen to the two bottling facilities we had on Dominica,,,
Mista dem go and Study and still doh learn noffing from dem failing economies because they are all driven but the same Evil “Greed”,,,
Garçon is Grow Dominica was designed to Grow food!!!
On Dominica is d Best place in dis realm to grow and produce No Genetically Modified Foods, Mista dem need to concentrate on dat alone and dey doh have to look any further than the region to market our products, cause all dem other island overpopulated and over crowded with hotels and Tourist attraction dey doh have time to grow deir Own food,,,
For generations Portsmouth have been the hub for hucksters who go to the upper islands trading Produce, have they ever done any market research to try and implement means to improve that sector???
There used to be these dudes from Grand Bay dat started this Farm-to-Market Co-op but dat was short lived Mista Dem need to research dat and see how dat could be reestablished,,,
It dozen take a doctorate to implement profitable sectors for Dominica you know,,,
All we have is fertile soil garçon and from the look of things God stop making dat eons ago,,,
STOP SELLING OUR BLACK GOLD to dem Europeans and dem Canadians and whomever cause soon Dominica will be faced wiff d same dilemma like Antigua, Barbados, St. Lucia, Grenada, St. Thomas, St. Croix and all dem other islands dat Sold-Out!!!
take a trip to Barbados nuh one of does days, some-body and go see how many of dem hotels shut down and cannot reopen again,,,
DOminica can never have a trade surplus. even the US has a trade deficit. wat can be done is lower our deficit. domnica like all other caribbean countries do not have enof resources. even if they specialize in agriculture, thats not enof. the only thing is to limit imports of goods but even that is difficult. our taste for foreign goods have increased.
ENOUGH TALK. Let your actions be your talking in future. For a start break the flour monopoly from St. Vincent, some $ 9 million a year that causes unnecessary high bakery product prices for our people but gives big guaranteed profits to the flour importer and the St. Vincent company. Foster competition for a start to keep prices reasonable and quality paramount.
We have for years upon years spoken about this problem and have looked at no preagmatic solutions. The fact is buy local AND ALL OF THIS OLE TALK WONT WORK. We need to recognise that in order for our Trade Deficit in dominica and indeed the eastern caribbean to be addressed, we need to look seriously at Venture Capital Funding……I am sad to say but the financial institutions only cripples the business sector I challenge each of you to go to you main supermarket where ever you live in the reigon and you will come to the conclusion that the majority of products there say “made in Trinidad” Alot of people have this misguided thought that Oil and Gas was the only catalyst for change in the economy of that country but you are sadly mistaken if you held that view. Venture Capital particularly in the areas of manufacturing, construction, tourism etc were what did it for that country. A man goes to a bank in the EC for a business loan, at best he has to begin repaying that facility 90 days later and the sad reality is that in most cases what always happens is that this person has to end up using money from what was actually borrowed from the bank to service the loan…..How can that scenario bring sucess? If we are really serious in the EC about cuting trade deficits and reducing FIB (food import bill) then we need an entire overhaull of the status quo….DNO lets do some information sessions on VC and the opportunities that exist. I am available if you need me to write such articles…..Best Wishes
“Cap” Eisenhower himself is part of the “problem”…such a waste of money to hear hot air once a year, or two articles…
Can Mr. Eisenhower tell us WHY we have such a huge deficit?
Let’s open that rancid can of worms, please
Eisenhower we have been hearing this pep talk of support local for the ast 30 years – so deal with the real problem. Under the advise of people like you , other highly paid advisors , 17 ministers , productivity consultant etc our country has sunk to levels neve seen before. You and your associates sit back and blame te world economic crisis but everybody knw it s simply be ause of the worse administration ever in the history of Dominica.
Instead of focusing on the miniscule manufacturing secto or asking people to support local Mr E Douglad need to focus on the real economic problem. Its shameful that atei Ed economist would deliberately avoid dealing with the root of problem . Even if Dominican would only buy home made we still would not shake our trade deficit.
What Eisenhower should e telling the people is how and when the government would implement action plans to reduce the trade deficit. It is under the guidance and advise of Eisenhower and the other leeches that our agriculture industry went into oblivion.
That saddens me – yeh I am from Portsmouth and I said it. What a shame and embarrassment that Dominica was once the flagship island of the OECS and now we are competing with Haiti. For second place.
Lawi … is your head on backwards or something? Just try to be a little bit logical when blogging. I’ll break it down for you. A balance of trade deficit exists..that means we import (to eat mainly, but to build , office supplies etc). If we insist as citizens that we are going to eat locally grown food, use locally procuced material (timber etc)it means we import less and the trade of balace problem is reduced. What ‘government policy’ do you want to implement which adresses this? This is OUR responsibility, no one else’s. Time to look yourself in the mirror (yes you, Lawi) and ask “Am I helping to solve this problem?”
Smart Britbob I will not stup so low to engage you who is obviously ignorant and parochial . You can’t see past your nose. Maybe you should advise Eisenhower and the government to stop importing timber, office supplies and KFC.- shoot I just came down to your level Britbob.
With respect while I may not support Lawi’s bashing of Eike…..He makes an excellent point Brit….. We cannot just sit and say buy more local and expect that this will solve the problem…That will only make a small dent in the issue…The true task is we need to be more self sufficient..We need to empower our manufacturing sector and small businesses……..If you go to a store as a Dominican and you see two identical products one says made in dominica and the other says made somewhere else……I am sure once the product quality is just as good as the other you will select the item made in Dominica and I think that is what we need to be looking at. Buy local in itself alone cannot be the solution….look forward to your thoughts
dominica doesn’t have any timber production unless it’s a personal project! lawi i right the gov’t doesn’t have policies to encourage local production, just take a look at all the major construction projects ran by this administration, they are being done by foreigners. how does that help the trade deficit?
Production and availability is driven by demand. There is no Government policy which determines whether an individual chooses a pound of imported cod fish over a pound of tuna or dowad at the market. There is no government policy which determines whether an individual buys a dasheen in the market rather than a packet of macaroni. Lawi, my level is that I as a Dominican, I am prepared to take responsibility for this. Are you? Or are too scared to do this? No .. much easier to blame ‘Government policy’ and buy your foreign product anyway … and then blame the ‘Govvernment’ when your neibour farmers and fishermen leave the industry through lack of demand and then wonder why these industies suffer. Meanwhile while you are busy blaming the ‘Government’, other people in other countries are busy supporting their local produce and discouraging the consumption of our bananas claiming that transporting produce from thousands of miles away is contributing to climate change (and that is after removing support though the WTO). Carry on … see how far that gets you. Ministers come and go in a blink .. Dominica will remain. What are YOU going to do to aid its economic success (apart forn finger pointing and blaming someone else?)
Peeps notice the deliberate distortion by this Britob. Anyways the honest person will not avoid the the fact that nothing has been done to create a productive economy and tht an economy that depends on charitable donations is doomed.
We know whose head is on backwards now .
britbob like your wrote “production and availability is driven by demand”, then with the import bill so high this means demand exist, so why can’t local firms meet those demands? plus you stated “other people in other countries are busy supporting their local produce and discouraging the consumption of our bananas claiming that transporting produce from thousands of miles away is contributing to climate change (and that is after removing support though the WTO)”, then again who is lobbying for Dominican Products and society? who is responsible for the management of Dominica? just look at the construction industry here in Dominica, Imported Chinese workers, who travel thousands of miles to complete work which could have been executed by locals, even labourers, now tell me who are the ones responsible for such actions? is it not the government of Dominica? how are they protecting our better interest as a nation with those sort of actions. if they speak of reducing trade deficit then show belief and confidence in the people of the country. stop allowing this labour administration to destroy our land and culture.
Lawi I agree with you about the all the money spent paying the Eisenhowers, the blame game and the demise of agriculture but you cannot ignore manufacturing and yes you must encourage people to buy local.
I did not discourage the buy local incentive – definitely not. All I am saying is that we cannot just talk about buy local or consume what we grow and even if we did just that we would still have a significant imbalance of trade. Until we transform our efforts into a developing a productive economy , until we start focusing on revamping our agriculture industry that will inevitably spur Argo processing, until we stop thinking that there will be a next surge of China money we are going to be waiting for a very long time.
Anonymous – I prefer honest conversation. If we for the sake of our country just try to have honest and serious conversation we can make our country better ; with honest onversation we are sure to get Better quality administration. When discuss issues with sincerity and intelligence partisan politics will take a back bench. It is because of honest conversation that i islands like Barbados and even St Lucia could run lapse around us.
If my expression of disappointment in Eisenhower and the present administration is construed as partisan politics then people like BritBob should instead praise the above noted for excellence in execution but the truth is they can’t but they would rather try to chop me Dwn for saying what they are afraid to say.
Lawi, you hit the nail on the head. The final statement of the article confirms your point:
“Various producers will come out to sell their items which will include candles, jewellery, bath soaps and other items.”
The items we are currently producing make up a very tiny portion of Dominicans’ daily consumption/expenditures, and would need significant support (technical and otherwise) to come close to producing revenues at the rate that we import.
It is unimaginable that in a conversation of this nature, an economist would not mention the industries in which we have some advantage, the items we could create at home to reduce the import bill, etc. I have to wonder, aren’t there any press on hand to ask these obvious questions?! The fact that a public official would feel comfortable making such an empty statement without fear of being hammered with questions, suggests our press or citizens as a whole are grossly uninformed or simply uninterested in these matters. Or maybe they just know this is all hot air