What Jamaica needs to grow
Published:Tuesday | May 5, 2015 | 12:00 AMKeisha Hill
Lecturer in the Department of Economics at the University of the West Indies Dr André Haughton wants to see sustainable farming mechanisms, including agro-processing, and aggressive expansion of Jamaica's information and communications technology (ICT) sector to increase the prospects of production.
"The Jamaican economy is in the same state it has been for several years. High energy costs and the country's failure to deal with irrigation systems for farming and other infrastructure have handicapped our progress to growth," Haughton said.
"In order for us to improve the services that we provide, we have to expand our ICT sector and then evaluate what other services our major trading partners are outsourcing. If we see what services they are outsourcing, we can train ourselves to tap into it," Haughton said.
He declared that economic growth is important for Jamaica because it improves the country's economic sustainability.
"Economic growth is not an indication of wealth, but the more a country grows, the more it earns, and the more it earns, the more it can invest in itself. When a country grows, it is expanding overall infrastructure, and with this comes improved provision of services," he said.
Read more in tomorrow's special Growth Supplement