THE governing Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) is pledging $40 billion in support to businesses if it returns to power after the September 3 General Election.

In its 102-page election manifesto, which was released yesterday, the JLP also promised a number of goodies, including financial support to households, tourism grants, the development of more business incubators and the redevelopment of idle lands and sugar cane lands into orchards. In addition, the party has promised to prioritise rural development.

To this extent, the governing JLP plans to establish a department within the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation to drive rural job creation, investment, housing, formalisation of squatter settlements, road, water, Internet and other infrastructure supportive of sustainable development.

The JLP manifesto sets out the provision of a “$20-billion public-private COVID-19 Recovery Equity Fund that will make equity or quasi-equity investments in businesses affected by the pandemic”.

In addition, the party said a JLP Government will invest up to $5 billion alongside the private sector. The Recovery Equity Fund will be managed by the private sector on a competitive basis.

“We will deploy $10 billion in loan guarantees to support the micro, small and medium-sized businesses,” the JLP promises in the manifesto. A further $3 billion is being promised in agri-care support packages for farmers and fisherfolk over the next three years.

According to the manifesto, “they will be supported with a number of essential items, including equipment and machinery, in addition to infrastructure, such as green houses, fishing equipment and gear as well as refrigerated containers for storage to ensure their resilient recovery”.

In the area of tourism, the JLP plans to deploy $1.2 billion in grants to small and medium-sized operators in the sector. This will be done through the Export-Import Bank. Additionally, the JLP said it intends to offer $500 million in grants to micro and community-based businesses through the Social Development Commission.

The party also promises to implement a Government of Jamaica Land Bank that provides a comprehensive database with key information on all available lands across government. This is being done so that local and other investors can easily identify and apply for sale or lease of lands.

“This will promote greater transparency, simplify the process and simultaneously reduce the time taken to identify land, identify the specific land owners and then transact a sale or lease,” the party said.

Regarding improving Jamaica’s ranking in the Doing Business Report, the JLP said it will fund a specific project for this task.

The project will be mandated to improve Jamaica’s ranking in the areas of trading across borders, tax administration, minority protection, registration of property and enforcements of contracts.

Turning to agriculture, the party said it will ramp up the development of the poultry, small ruminants, pig and dairy industries and support Jamaica’s home-grown, school- feeding programme.

Financing, it said, will be made available to young people (18-35) for investments in all areas of agriculture, fisheries and aquaculture management and transformation.