Cabinet has agreed to remove import duty from a variety of essential items, including diapers, feminine-hygiene products, baby food and baby carriages.
There is currently a 22% import duty on these goods.
Finance Minister Chris Saunders, who is also the minister for customs and border control, said families in Cayman were paying between $2 million and $3 million a year on duties on these items.
He called on merchants to ensure that the savings they make by not paying duty on essential products are passed on to their customers. He gave the examples of waivers the government made on duties on COVID-19 lateral flow tests and cement, saying in many instances, the savings from those waivers had not been passed on to consumers.
Saunders said the government was putting retailers on notice that if the consumer prices of the new duty-free items were not reduced, the Department of Agriculture would begin stocking and selling these basic supplies at the duty-free price, “so that Caymanians and those who call the Cayman Islands home can save money”.
He added, “We can’t have a situation where the government has given up tens of millions dollars a year in duties for essential items, only for those items to be the most expensive within the supermarket and on the shelves. … This government is not prepared to continue to support those kinds of practices.”
The Opposition had filed a motion calling for the abolition of import duty from such products on 10 Nov., but withdrew the motion in Parliament on Wednesday after being informed that Cabinet, on 23 Nov., had discussed the issue and agreed to waive the duties.
Saunders said the removal of import duty on these essential items had been part of his and some of his fellow government members’ election campaigns, and they had previously urged the Progressives administration to get rid of those duties.
List of newly proposed import duty waivers
- Baby food
- Sanitary towels (pads) and tampons
- Baby and adult diapers and diaper liners
- Baby carriages and parts thereof
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Applause 👏 although that list could certainly be expanded.
Good move
Government needs to MAKE SURE that the exact amount of duty savings is passed on to the purchasers by all retailers selling the newly named duty free products. Government should also make sure retailers are passing on savings to customers of ALL duty free items….particularly food items.