Letter of the Day | Jamaica’s 21st-century inequality is priced into daily life

THE EDITOR, Madam:

One of the most obvious inequalities in 21st-century Jamaica is the unequal cost of accessing employment, electricity, financial services and economic opportunity.

Consider someone living in St Ann who is offered employment in Kingston. The North-South Highway toll from Ocho Rios to Caymanas is currently $2,400 each way for a Class 1 vehicle. A round trip therefore costs $4,800 – or approximately $96,000 per month over 20 working days – before spending one dollar of fuel, maintaining the vehicle, paying insurance or finding parking.

What is the business case for accepting such a job unless the salary is exceptionally high? We speak about labour mobility and encourage Jamaicans to seek opportunities, yet our transportation costs effectively penalise people for living outside Kingston. The highway may save time but, at these rates, it risks becoming infrastructure primarily for those who are already financially comfortable.

Electricity presents another barrier. Available comparative data placed Jamaica’s residential electricity cost at approximately J$45.78 per kilowatt-hour in late 2025, inclusive of taxes and charges. JPS has also reported significant fuel and independent power producer components on customers’ bills. High electricity costs raise the cost of virtually every productive activity.

People are encouraged to enter the formal financial system and conduct electronic transactions, yet customers and businesses face extensive schedules of service, transfer, overdraft, cash-handling and transaction charges. The Bank of Jamaica itself publishes information on fees charged across the financial and payment systems. Every charge could otherwise support consumption, savings, business expansion and employment.

These costs may help explain part of Jamaica’s persistent difficulty in achieving strong, broad-based growth. They reduce disposable income, discourage commuting, weaken small-business margins, and make Jamaica a more expensive place in which to produce.

Government and regulators should conduct a comprehensive economic-burden review of tolls, electricity rates and banking fees – not simply to determine whether each charge is contractually or legally permissible, but whether the combined burden is compatible with national development.

We should consider discounted commuter toll plans, monthly passes, stronger incentives for renewable energy and efficiency, greater transparency in utility billing, genuinely fee-free basic bank accounts, and limits on charges that bear little relationship to the cost of providing the service.

Infrastructure, electricity and banking should facilitate economic activity, not function as toll gates around opportunity. Jamaica cannot expect First-World productivity while imposing costs that make ordinary participation in the economy increasingly unaffordable.

PAUL LYN

Christiana, Manchester