At the start of this new year, Sunday Finance asked a few CEOs for their views on inflation amid the challenges of the pandemic. There responses are below:-

Gassan Azan

Chairman, Megamart and Bashco

I think it’s going to be very, very difficult, especially given all the supply shortages and disruptions in supplies that have taken place in the last few months, which is going to get more compounded in the coming months. So I think inflation is going to be around for quite a while. It’s supply-side inflation, but I think it’s going to be heavy and around for quite a while to come, maybe at least another year.

Michael Ammar Jr

Director, Ammar’s

Running a retail business now is no different to how we have run it for the past year plus. Safety protocols need to be strictly adhered to, in particularly masking and sanitising are important. Now more than ever it is critical that all the team are fully vaccinated to protect the entire team.

Retail in Jamaica has had a stellar record over the past year in ensuring customer and employee safety.

In terms of inflation, costs have increased in the apparel industry over the past two months. We have taken a deliberate decision to absorb as much of these increases as possible by tightening our margins over the Christmas season.

Don Wehby

CEO, GraceKennedy

Since the onset of the pandemic GraceKennedy has been taking a proactive and multifaceted approach to ensuring the continuity of our business. We activated our Business Continuity Plan in January 2020 which has allowed us to continue our operations with minimal disruption. We also have a global multi-disciplinary GK COVID-19 Steering Committee, which has been guiding our group’s response to the pandemic since March 2020. Staying up to date on the latest developments related to COVID-19 and providing regular updates to our team has been critical to our response and remains a priority going forward.

In the face of the anticipated ‘fourth wave’ in the pandemic, which has added even more complexity to a global economic environment characterised by high rates of inflation and supply chain issues, GK has been very strategic in our approach. We continue to effectively manage our liquidity and margins, and implement cost-containment and cost-reduction strategies where necessary. Ensuring that our supply chain remains robust and consistent is also a key priority area. We will also continue to make use of the opportunities presented to our business, through our M&A strategy, further advancement of our digital transformation agenda, and product innovation.

Throughout the pandemic GraceKennedy has been proactively implementing measures to ensure the safety and well-being of all our staff and other stakeholders. Recently this has included facilitating access to COVID-19 vaccines. We recently held two successful vaccination blitzes at our headquarters in downtown Kingston, which together resulted in over 1,300 vaccine doses being administered to our team, their families and residents of communities neighbouring our offices. We will continue to facilitate vaccination wherever possible, as we look towards putting the pandemic in the past.

In keeping with our ‘we care’ mantra and long-standing track record of good corporate citizenship, GraceKennedy also continues to give back to the communities we serve around the world during this very difficult period in our history. This support includes providing care packages for the most vulnerable and those working on the frontline of the pandemic, and equipping students and schools for online learning.

Kareema Muncey

Managing Director, Home Choice Enterprises

We have managed to keep business afloat despite the pandemic. Besides the additional costs incurred to keep up with COVID such as transportation for employees, sanitation protocols and reduced working hours, economic stagnation is a growing fear.

We have felt the impact nonetheless and like with other companies in the manufacturing sector, we have been greatly affected by ongoing shortages in raw materials and the spike in freight charges on containers coming out of China. This in turn has led to price increases with no road map to growth, to cushion the effects of inflation.

What our Government can do to help is to revisit the points outlined by the JMEA, [Jamaica Manufacturers and Export Association] which addressed the need to lower import taxes caused by increased shipping and lower the 20 per cent GCT rates to normal 15 per cent rates at ports of entry.

The overall fear of more lockdowns and more expense weighing down a slowed economy is everybody’s concerned.