Minister responsible for finance Ryan Straughn has outlined in Parliament a series of measures aimed at trying to bring down the cost of food including widening the list of VAT-free items, reducing the duty on others and cutting the retailer mark-ups.

Mr. Straughn was delivering a ministerial statement as a follow up to last week’s announcement by Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley of government measures in response to rising food prices.

The measures take effect from Thursday and will be in place for the next six months.

He also spoke of the agreement with retailers, distributors and farmers to slash the mark-ups on a long list of items including chicken, eggs and bread.