In their post-budget press release at the end of March, the Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica (PSOJ) called for a “stronger growth agenda in the 2026/2027 budget”.

While it welcomed the establishment of coordination mechanisms such as National Reconstruction and Resilience Authority (NaRRA), Jamaica Reconstruction and Resilience Oversight Committee (JAMRROC), and Facilitated Acceleration of Strategic Transformation (FAST Jamaica), designed to improve execution and reduce fragmentation, the PSOJ cautioned that “the budget does not go far enough in outlining a clear and actionable growth agenda”. In particular, it agreed with Prime Minister Andrew Holness’s emphasis on Jamaica’s critically low productivity of US$8.81 per hour worked, or less than half the Caribbean average.

We are now approaching six months since the devastating Hurricane Melissa that triggered the historic US$6.7-billion commitment from the international development banks to help us rebuild. When NaRRA finally gets underway, it will be under pressure to make up for lost time. Unless our procurement rules are reformed, NaRRA will have a slim chance of using much of this massive financing within five years, according to Caribbean economist Gerard Johnson.

Johnson argues, “The current time for any reforms to be formulated, debated, approved, legislated, and regulated makes it likely that NaRRA will be obliged to start work with the current rules of the game. However, except for emergencies, a fundamental principle of transparent procurement is that the desire to speed things up is not a valid justification for bending the rules. Since NaRRA’s mandate is strategic reconstruction, there is no clear basis for using emergency procurement procedures, suggesting normal rules should apply.”

Most development banks, with the exception of Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean (CAF), currently layer their procurement procedures on top of ours, creating a strong incentive to avoid multilateral development financing in favour of alternative sources of financing, such as bilateral loans and our own fiscal revenue.

Jamaica’s existing procurement rules allow for quicker selection of suppliers; however, direct contracting, through which the Government simply selects a supplier, requires close scrutiny due to the absence of the information provided by competition.

Unsolicited bids, whereby the private company (not the Government) comes up with the idea and proposes how the Government should share the risk and cost of the project, may also benefit from some degree of competition. For example, a Swiss Challenge, in which other companies are allowed to match the proposed bid, is not mandatory, and surprisingly, has not been used in Jamaica. A study commissioned by the Government of Jamaica concluded that unsolicited bids could be useful if specific safeguards are in place. However, Jamaica has not yet developed the monitoring system for this category of public-private partnerships (PPP).

Johnson notes, “The Government’s procurement process has been blamed for the chronic delays in the capital investment program; however, analytical work has shown that this is merely one among many factors that cause the delays. There is ample evidence of equally devastating delays due to poor project design that not only slows down implementation but also wastes money and reduces impact. Weak project management also contributes to slow execution and leakage of funds. NaRRA will probably have to rely on the same public servants in line ministries to manage the investments. It would make sense to refresh the analysis of our procurement procedures and the PPP policy without delay.”

He adds, “If NaRRA is mandated to hit the ground running to make up for lost time, it will be constrained by our current project management arrangements, and will require seasoned project managers to move faster without compromising our governance system to meet deadlines.”

Productivity driven by digital transformation

In its release, the PSOJ warned that taxing business-use digital tools risks increasing operational costs, slowing adoption, and undermining productivity and competitiveness, arguing, “We must not tax productivity in a way that undermines growth”. In short, the PSOJ called for a growth strategy that is productivity-driven, export-oriented, digitally enabled, and energy-efficient.

Therese Turner-Jones, former regional head of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) based in Jamaica, pre-COVID, had led a Caribbean team to Estonia, including follow-up presentations in Jamaica from global experts.

She notes, “Jamaica’s nearly two decades journey towards digital transformation has spanned many different administrations. There is no time to waste as small countries race to get noticed in the global stage. The attempts to introduce a national identification system have been halting. There is no need to reinvent the wheel as Estonia provides a blueprint for success. But it starts with a consensus on the need for the mandatory key to unlock efficiency: a national digital ID. Today, the challenges are great, given the lack of trust in governments globally as well as general data and privacy concerns. However, Jamaica can take steps to mitigate these risks and challenges by following the gold standard Estonia has set.”

The digital transformation outlined here will also require renewed investment in our telecom infrastructure with the goal of making it the best in the Caribbean basin. In late 1999, I attended a Jamaica Chamber of Commerce (JCC) meeting in Crowne Plaza at the invitation of then JCC President Tony Chang, where then Technology Minister Phillip Paulwell announced the end of our telecommunications monopoly. I subsequently met the first three Digicel employees as they arrived in Jamaica. This Saturday, April 18, is the 25th anniversary of the launch of Digicel in Jamaica, one of only two unicorns (US$1-billion-plus valuation) created here from scratch.

Digicel’s arrival in the early 2000s provided a burst of entrepreneurial energy that partially offset the enormous damage to our growth during the financial crisis of the 1990s. However, post-Hurricane Melissa, we now desperately need a new burst of entrepreneurial energy.

Next week, between April 23 to 25, Entrepreneurs Across Borders, a US-based non-profit, will be holding its fourth annual Beyond the Beach summit in Kingston to connect US-based entrepreneurs willing to give their time, money, and connections (including our regional diaspora) to local entrepreneurs in pursuit of this mission.

With macroeconomic stability achieved, as the PSOJ noted, Jamaica must now accelerate into a phase of sustained, inclusive growth. More anon.