MANCHESTER, Jamaica – Prime Minister Andrew Holness says the country is experiencing a change where promises made by politicians are being costed amid recent proposals contained in the budget presentations by the parliamentary Opposition.

“In our last budget several proposals were made and the Minister of Finance costed it and showed that those promises didn’t make sense, couldn’t be financed and would wreck the budget,” Holness said on Saturday night at the Manchester Chamber of Commerce’s awards banquet.

READ: https://www.jamaicaobserver.com/2025/03/25/williams-warns-finsac-pnp-keeps-budget-promises/

READ: https://www.jamaicaobserver.com/2025/03/19/change-champion/

He told his audience at the newly-constructed Bloomfield Professional Centre in Mandeville that the work of the Fiscal Commission is also vital.

“The development of this country cannot be made on empty promises. You can’t come to Parliament and make promises and when tackled you get up and say ‘it was not my intention’ that these would be implemented. In effect, empty promises. Jamaica has changed. For the first time, promises were costed. The public can see what promises make sense and what does not make sense,” Holness said.

“An important part of the transformation of Jamaica is the institution of the Fiscal Commission… its role is to ensure that governments follow the fiscal rules that are in place meaning we can’t run a deficit more than a certain percentage of GDP. The Fiscal Commission essentially polices what the government will spend on, but it also has the ability to price or cost any other proposed spending either by the government or the opposition,” added Holness.

He pointed to his near three-decade experience as a political representative in addressing his audience.

“As a politician for 27 years, treating with this issue of immediate gratification requires a special skill especially in a competitive democracy where your psychological disposition for immediate gratification by making empty promises, those days are over”.

He said Jamaica is the most resilient it has been to shocks than any time before in its history and credited his administration for presenting a balanced budget.

“It is an important step in the development of our country, because for too long our electorate has been misled and our political economy has focused on the wrong things. For the first time you have a government that has delivered 10 budgets of stability,” he stated.

Continuing, the prime minister said, “We have presented budgets to you without ever running with anything. That is a significant transformation in Jamaica… We are presenting a budget in an election year, and it is a balanced budget”.

– Kasey Williams