KINGSTON, Jamaica — Government Senator, Donald Wehby, today paid tribute to the contribution of Jamaicans in the Diaspora to the resilience of the economy to the COVID-19 Pandemic.

“I want to make special mention of the performance of remittances. During 2020, Jamaica’s remittance inflows increased by over 20 per cent. Regardless of where they live, one thing I know is, our Diaspora is passionate about and love our country,” Senator Wehby said, as he opened the 2021/22 State of the Nation (SON) Debate in the Senate, today.

“I thank them for their significant contributions through charities and directly to the agricultural, education and health sectors and community development initiatives. I encourage the Jamaican Diaspora to continue to invest in Jamaica, as the Diaspora represents a reservoir of social and financial capital which must be optimized for national development,” he stated.

He noted that Jamaica is one of the few countries worldwide which was able to maintain debt sustainability throughout the pandemic.

He said that Jamaicans have worked too hard, and public sector workers have made too many sacrifices, for the country to reverse the gains made to reduce our debt and improve the economic outlook. He also noted the Government’s two debt restructuring exercise and the wage freeze for public sector workers over the years.

“Because of the debt restructuring and the lack of resources, we have not been able to spend enough on social services such as health, education and crime prevention. We can never go back there. We cannot borrow our way out of our problems, we must grow our way out,” he insisted.

“The IMF remains confident in our ability, as a country, to maintain our commitment to debt sustainability, including our plans to accelerate debt reduction efforts should growth over-perform over the medium term. This is not to be taken lightly. It speaks to our fiscal maturity as a country,” he noted.

He said that the COVID -19 pandemic has been a testament to the resilience of Jamaicans, and the entrepreneurial spirit was ignited, during the crisis last year.

“In 2020, entrepreneurs and investors registered 12,809 business names and 3,935 companies. This reflects a 12 percent increase for business names and three percent for companies over the previous year, 2019, despite the horrible pandemic,” Wehby pointed out.

Turning to the management of the economy, Senator Wehby said that the Government must be commended for its management of the economy during the worst economic contraction in Jamaica’s history.

He said that no previous economic decline comes even close to the COVID-19 pandemic and, as the managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF)) commented on Jamaica’s management of the pandemic indicating that, “I highly value Jamaica’s sound economic reforms and fiscal management in response to the COVID-19 crisis”.

The State of the Nation Debate is the Senate’s answer to the Sectoral Debate which ended in the House of Representatives on June 15. Members speak on various social and economic issues affecting the country, and the performance of the Government and its ministries, departments and agencies over the previous fiscal year, as well the projections for the future.

Balford Henry