Orville Taylor | EXPOed 2023

Today is the last day of Expo Jamaica 2023, and it is an extremely exciting event. This is the first time in years that producers have been able to come together under a common banner and a dedicated physical space, to showcase what is best about our country.

Expo Jamaica has had a long history. My own experience was as a primary school child around 1970 or ‘72, And even back then, I was amazed at the range of products which were on offer. It was a period during which children were routinely given tours of factories. Indeed, it was in primary school that I first had my taste of cold Malta and discovered that beer was brewed hot and bottled cold.

Expo Jamaica 2023 has a long list of exhibitors. Some 250 or more producers and another 600 or so ‘buyers’. In fact, the event is so large, that it has to be housed in the twin structures of the National Arena and the National Indoor Sports Centre.

Coupled with some of the initiatives we have seen over the last few years, such as the Tourism Linkages Network, Agri Fest at Knockalva Polytechnic, College of Arts Science and Education, and the Christmas in July expos, there is indeed basis for optimism.

Micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) are the drivers of economic growth in any society. Even in Japan, one of the most robust of economies, they comprise more than 90 per cent of contribution to economic growth. Simply put, the stimulation of small enterprises is the way forward, in a society like Jamaica.

MANUFACTURING SECTOR

That there is space for economic growth, and in particular in the manufacturing sector, cannot be in dispute. Just over eight per cent of our gross domestic product (GDP) comes from manufacturing. When one recognises that this is almost exactly the same that arises from agriculture, then clearly we are way behind the 8 ball.

In comparison, a small open economy like Barbados, with one-tenth of our population and even less of our landmass, has manufacturing contributing almost 10 of theirs. Jamaica has far greater potential given the range of its products and resources.

It is inconceivable that Jamaica with one of the highest rate of Internet and telephone connectivity in the developing world, if not in the world, itself, could have surpluses of primary agricultural product in one part of the country, and sometimes within the same parish while having a dearth in another part.

It is inexcusable that Jamaica should anywhere at all have a glut of any kind of agricultural product, and then have critical shortages elsewhere much later. To the credit of the public sector workers and the ministries of Agriculture and Tourism, there is indeed a network with the acronym Alex, whose purpose is to integrate sellers and buyers of agricultural products and services, using the old 1970s Agricultural Marketing Corporation model.

However, despite all of the above, too much wastage of agricultural products takes place. Agro-industries are still woefully lacking, and it is well documented that real profits derive from secondary and tertiary production.

A criticism by one social commentator, my colleague and radio opinion journalist, was that Expo 2023 had much of the same thing over and over as in the past. For him, innovation was lacking. Truth is, I do not necessarily share this because, there are a number of exhibitors who were offering products and services never before presented.

These include logistics, energy sources, and new types of furniture material as well as impressive information technology. For instance, a debt collection platform allows merchants and purchasers to use international credit cards without any export of capital to the parent credit card companies in the USA.

Shippers have become one-stop shops. One innovator has an application that allows any product label or business card to become a virtual billboard.

One commercial bank has an integrated system that allows for the transfer of funds in real time outside of the banks themselves. The government has also shown its hand with ASYCUDA (Automated System for Customs Data) integrated tax and customs fee collection system.

TRADE BALANCE

Nonetheless, the challenge is great with an increasing trade balance. At $2.67b in 2021, $2.4b in 2020 and $2.2b in 2019, our trade gap keeps growing about 9.6 per cent annually from 14 per cent of our GDP, it’s now 18 per cent.

Inasmuch as we can feel good that we have recovered somewhat from the COVID-19 pandemic, we consistently import more than we export.

The trade gap has been widening. Other economic indicators such as employment have been moving in the right direction. As measured by the same methodology over the past two decades, more persons are at work. However, there are major questions regarding the quality of work, such as whether it is decent work or underemployment.

Today is the last day of Expo 2023. Good signs but not enough. Only 20 per cent of the registered members of our manufacturers are exporters.

Simply not enough.

- Dr Orville Taylor is senior lecturer at the Department of Sociology at The University of the West Indies, a radio talk-show host, and author of ‘Broken Promises, Hearts and Pockets’. Send feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and tayloronblackline@hotmail.com.