Salt Cay HIGH fuel prices to be investigated by Minister & MP 

By Dana Malcolm 

Staff Writer 

#TurksandCaicos, June 21, 2023 – After months of suffering high gas prices in Salt Cay, residents may find some relief as both TCIG and the Member of Parliament have now committed to investigating why the rest of the country’s gas prices have dropped dramatically, while the smallest inhabited island has seen no change at all.

Following several reports which caused no noticeable change, Magnetic Media made inquiries into the issue. We reached out to both Edwin Astwood, Member of Parliament for Grand Turk South and Salt Cay and E Jay Saunders, Minister of Finance Investment and Trade, which oversees consumer protection.

We wanted to find out if the two men were aware that residents on Salt Cay are paying $11 a gallon for fuel and if they were agitating for more fair pricing for the islanders.

Both men responded promptly, indicating to us they had not been aware of the price spike despite regularly published reports by The Department of Trade, Industry, and Fair Competition.  Now, they say, armed with the new information they are committed to find the cause of the disparity.

Prior to the spike in oil prices in early 2022 which prompted a tax relief plan from the Government, Salt Cay residents, according to the Report, were paying $7 a gallon for both diesel and regular gas.  In fact prices stayed at that steady $7 rate until August 2022.  Then over the course of a month (by September 1st ) prices inexplicably jumped by $4.

Nine months later, Salt Cay’s price at the pumps for fuel remains stubbornly at $11 per gallon, despite lower oil prices globally, even below pre-invasion costs, that $4 increase has remained.

Currently, Salt Cay residents, the island with very little economic activity are paying nearly twice as much at the pumps.