Some petroleum retailers ceased the sale of diesel in a move to gain leverage in talks with the government over their fixed profit margin. Petroleum retailers have been lobbying for an increase in their profit margin which to date has not been approved by government.

President of the Bahamas Petroleum Retailers Association Raymond Jones told ZNS News, “we’ve approached the government on this some one year ago now and what we’re doing is trying to get them to understand and see, I believe they do, that we need a reasonable margin that can cover the escalating cost that we’re being subjected to like the other independent business operators in the country.”

Jones explained further, “diesel is actually more expensive than gasoline right now but at a smaller margin. So what were trying to achieve is to reduce that operating cost and that’s where the retailers are looking at and we want to get a profitable change in the regime that we can continue to serve the customers. At the end of the day by providing them a superior service and product that’s how we can stay in business but if we were allowed to adjust our margins freely in the current economic environment you’d see a slight increase in your operating cost, nothing that’s going to stop people from driving but actually give us some relief and a chance at making a profit.”

There was no comment made by the Minister of Economic Affairs on this matter.

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