Robinson urges PM to rethink governance structure, avoid capital spend bottleneck

Opposition Spokesman on Finance Julian Robinson has argued that meaningful growth in the Jamaican economy will remain elusive unless and until the Government takes concrete steps to unclog the bottlenecks that are preventing the full spend of the capital budget.

In his contribution to the 2026-2027 Budget Debate on Thursday, Robinson contended that one of the clearest indictments of the Government’s management of the economy was the problem of the underspending of the capital budget.

He observed that, over the last three fiscal years, there have been significant underspend of the capital budget.

According to Robinson, the failure to spend the full sums allocated for capital expenditure has been blamed on procurement issues, the public investment management system and the claim that some contractors don’t have the capacity to carry out projects that are waiting to be rolled out.

However, he said the administration ought to find a solution to the problem after 10 years at the helm of government.

70 PER CENT OF CAPITAL SPEND

Further, Robinson reasoned that, while the prime minister has the authority to organise government as he sees fit, a careful look at the capital budget for central government and the public bodies showed that 60 per cent to 70 per cent of capital spend resides in the Ministry of Economic Growth and Infrastructure Development and the Office of the Prime Minister, both headed by Dr Andrew Holness.

“You might say you want to facilitate that on your own, but then it must become a bottleneck [with] all of those big agencies – from NHT (National Housing Trust), [to] Port Authority, [to] UDC (Urban Development Corporation) and Factories Corporation, as public bodies, and then central government.”

He urged the prime minister to rethink the structure, noting that what the head of government might have envisioned would make things flow quickly has not happened and the evidence of the level of underspend of the capital budget was testament to that.

Turning to the Government’s planned support to the micro, small and medium-size enterprise (MSME) sector through increased access to government procurement, Robinson said this was first announced in 2019 but, to date, the players are yet to benefit.

Finance and the Public Service Minister Fayval Williams, in opening the Budget Debate on Tuesday, said the Government would advance the implementation of the Public Procurement (Set Asides) framework, which allows portions of government procurement to be reserved for Jamaican suppliers, including micro and small enterprises.

However Robinson, displaying news articles that were written on it, contended that Williams’ predecessor, Dr Nigel Clarke, had announced the initiative in 2019.

“It has taken seven years – another announcement by the minister. I don’t know what has happened in the seven years but when I talk to people in the sector dem say nutten,” Robinson said.

He said this was a low hanging fruit that must be expedited to help grow the economy.

“If MSMEs can participate more in government procurement, their businesses will grow, they will employ more people and they will pay more GCT, more income tax – that’s how you grow the economy.”

On the emerging sectors, he said Jamaica has genuine opportunities in digital services, agro-processing, logistics, the creative industries, and cannabis, noting that they were not abstract possibilities.

He said the foundations already exist, but what was missing is the deliberate policy support, the access to capital, and the regulatory frameworks that would allow these sectors to move beyond potential to actual contribution.

edmond.campbell@gleanerjm.com