Government Approves Extension of Food & Fuel Tax Break

By Dana Malcolm 

Staff Writer 

#TurksandCaicos, March 27, 2023 – Customers in the TCI will continue to pay less for gasoline and electricity following an extension of the 2.5 percent discount on the Customs Processing Fee and 25 percent drop in fuel taxes. They will remain in place for another six months.

The Food and Fuel Tax Break was part of the initial $16 million tax break that came into effect April 1st 2022 several months before the bread basket items tax break in August.

At the time Premier Washington Misick had promised to reconsider the tax break if it was necessary and cabinet has apparently found it so, as it too will now last until September 30th 2023.

It gives a 2.5 percent discount on all items imported into the country, this includes food and fuel for electricity. The one year tax break was due to expire on April first and was instituted to lower fuel and food prices for residents in the immediate aftermath of the Russia/Ukraine invasion.

The 2.5 percent decrease will work to push prices lower as inflation also lowers and should make grocery shopping and purchasing fuel less of a burden for residents. Despite banking turmoil in the United States, where the TCI gets most of its goods, the inflation rate continues to slow. It’s currently at 6 percent down from 9 percent, a 40 year high, in summer 2022 and the lowest since September 2021.

Food inflation prices in the country are still high but lower than last year due to the slight reprieve on the cost of foods in the country’s leading source market, the United States.  At its height, the inflation crisis drove inflationary costs up by 9.5 percent in the Turks and Caicos Islands, according to analysts.