Holness admits 1.9% GDP growth ‘not enough’ to tackle issues facing citizens
Vanassa McKenzie / Our Today
Prime Minister Andrew Holness says the recent Local Government Election has shown that more needs to be done to grow the local economy and to tackle the social issues facing Jamaicans.
Addressing the Haughton’s Rx-Pak mobile app launch in Manchester on Thursday (February 29), Holness contended that Jamaica’s current 1.9 per cent economic growth will not be sufficient to deal with power, water and infrastructure challenges plaguing the country.
“At 1.9 per cent, the election has shown us it is not enough. Because of the magnitude of the problems we have to treat with. [Frankly], 1.9 per cent growth is simply not going to grow the government’s revenue enough to correct the water supply challenges that exist, all the bad roads that exist, the need for better public transportation its just simply not going to do it,” Holness said.
“There are those who wish upon a star, there are those who will make all kinds of promises that they will do it but I say to you, nothing can be done without a growing economy. No matter how we circle around it, the situation with water and roads and all of these challenges have been there from before Haughton’s Pharmacy was established in 1920,” the prime minister added.
He said the Local Government Election has highlighted that greater attention needs to be placed on citizens’ needs while serving as a signal for the government to recalibrate its strategy.
“It’s a balancing act and democracy is such a beautiful thing, that it corrects governments and the government programmes of how fast we should grow relative to what we need to pay attention to ease the pain and suffering of people in the society. You have to recalibrate that, but it is a conundrum. If you don’t grow you can’t address the issues and if you spend on the social issues, you sacrifice growth though you ease the suffering temporarily, you get back into the immiseration when you can’t continue to spend because you can’t spend the resources so it is not a simple issue,” Holness said.
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