WATCH: Golding insists the economy not doing well
Opposition Leader Mark Golding has criticised the Government for its stewardship of the economy which he said is in a recession.
Golding spoke to the issue during a press conference at Gordon House last Thursday shortly after the Throne Speech was delivered by the Custos of Kingston Steadman Fuller, to mark the start of the new parliamentary year. The Throne Speech also highlights the Government’s legislative priorities for the year ahead.
Describing the speech as both “low key and disappointing”, Golding added that “There was nothing in it to speak to how they plan to deal with the recession that Jamaica has experienced in the second half of 2024, with two consecutive quarters of negative growth, which is a definition of a recession.”
According to the Planning Institute of Jamaica, the economy contracted 3.5 per cent in the July-September quarter last year with projection for a 0.5 per cent contraction in the October-December quarter. That would mean the economy is in recession but Prime Minister Andrew Holness is insisting that there is no recession.
“By all accounts Jamaica is not in a recession. We are very cognisant of the fact however that there are challenges, but we are confident that the Jamaican economy is strong and will rebound. In the same way that we have rebounded after the pandemic, we will rebound from the impacts of Hurricane Beryl and Tropical Storm Raphael. The Jamaican economy is strong and the Jamaican economy is resilient,” Holness said during the handing over ceremony of a two-bedroom house in Dobson near Christiana.
Meanwhile, the Opposition leader also pointed to the issue of food security, noting that Jamaicans were experiencing moderate to severe food insecurity.
Said Golding,“Food insecurity, which was announced recently as a result of the report of the UN’s FAO, Food and Agriculture Organization, saying that over 55 per cent of Jamaicans are experiencing moderate to severe food insecurity. Not enough food, not enough nutritious food, not eating sufficient meals per day, et cetera. The poverty numbers in Jamaica, we don’t know where they are because they haven’t been published since COVID. But when we see that report on food insecurity and the recession in the economy, you know, we are very concerned about that”.
This, Golding insisted is the reality of the economy not doing well.
“They aren’t speaking to how they intend to turn it around. They finance the budget for this fiscal year that’s coming to a close by a one-off transaction, selling 12 years of future income to finance programmes that will have no lasting impact on economic growth and development, but are purely feel-good programmes with temporary effects,” Golding said.
“That is very poor economic management and we are very concerned because we’re wondering how they intend to finance this coming year’s budget without that money being available next time around. Because it was over $70 billion that was yielded from the sale of the future income from the Norman Manley Airport,” Golding added.
