Private Sector wants anti-dumping laws to keep out inferior goods

Executive Member of the Private Sector Commission (PSC) Ramesh Dookhoo Wednesday afternoon enjoyed the support of the Government when he called for anti-dumping legislation to safeguard local consumers against cheap and substandard products.

Anti-dumping laws would generally impose a tariff on goods that are believed to be priced below fair market value.

Addressing a gathering at the Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Guyana Manufacturing and Services Association (GMSA), Dookhoo explained that many local businesses are faced with unfair competition given the absence of anti-dumping laws.

The private sector mogul explained that imported beers are sold on the local market at six for $1,000 which is way below average cost – especially for local manufacturers.

“We need to introduce anti-dumping legislation in Guyana. We have been preaching this for ten years…we have moved from a state where we never had anything in 1985 and now we moved to a stage where we import everything, it don’t matter what the standard is,” Dookhoo stated.

He added that: “We import everything into Guyana so our manufacturers are heavily stymied by that.”

Minister of State Joseph Harmon, who delivered the feature address at the event, supported the call for such laws but noted the business community had objected to previous efforts made to introduce such regulations.

“I recall last year when certain arms within the Government began to take steps to clamp down on dumping, many of us here in the private sector cried foul. When people were bringing items that were mislabeled and passing it off to the Guyanese consumers, we were castigated about that,” Harmon stated.

The Minister of State nonetheless said the Government is working with the Competition Commission to enforce the Consumer Protection Act. This, he said, will target offences such as price-fixing, conspiracy, misleading advertisements and dumping of inferior as well as harmful goods.