Call for Barbadians to support local manufacturers

Bridgetown.

Executive Director of the Barbados Manufacturers Association (BMA), Bobbi MCkay says supporting the local manufacturing industry should be a way of life Barbadians.

She has suggesting Barbadian owned companies develop in -house policies to encourage they employees to buy local first.

MCkay drew reference to the recent row in the United States over the Chinese made uniforms for their Olympic team.

"There is no doubt that it is a issue all over the world; the United States is dealing with it and so is Canada because at the end of the day, they are trying to protect jobs and also engender pride in their products. The problem is,that people do not understand that; they just want the cheapest products and often do not care where they came from and the impact these overseas goods can have on our foreign exchange", she told Trakker News.

"We have to make manufacturing an important pillar in the country because of the potential it holds for jobs, the young people coming out of school need jobs and entrepreneurship could be the key to some of them hopefully opening businesses in the area of manufacturing and providing others with jobs", she added.