During Monday’s Press Briefing, Commerce Minister Emma Hippolyte announced that the long-promised removal of the 6% service charge on price-controlled items came into force on June 1, as outlined in a statutory instrument issued by the Ministry of Finance.

“One of the promises that was made by the Honourable Prime Minister, Minister for Finance during the last budget debate was the removal of the 6% service charge on price-controlled items. I’m just telling you that we have a statutory instrument that promise is now kept,” she said.

The removal applies to a list of essential goods, which includes items like cooking oil, rice, and other basic necessities. Hippolyte clarified that while consumers may see varying product sizes listed, such as 750ml and larger bottles of oil, all relevant price-controlled items are covered under the new measure.

Responding to political criticism of the government’s economic policy, Minister Hippolyte stressed that the administration is prioritizing relief for citizens: “The opposition can have their own views... but our responsibility is to ensure that we protect our consumers as much as possible. We cannot control the price of goods as it lands at the port, but what we can do is to look at VAT, the service charge, the areas where government has control, and that is what we are addressing.”

The implementation of the measure is part of the Pierre administration’s broader effort to ease the cost-of-living burden on citizens as global inflationary prices skyrocketed post-COVID-19 and remains volatile given the Tariff measures implemented by the US.