Gov't reiterates growth commitment
Published:Sunday | March 2, 2014 | 12:00 AM
Janet Silvera, Senior Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:Jamaica's Net International Reserves (NIR) is projected to increase to US$1.3 billion by the end of this month.
"Last year, we were some-where in the region of US$790 million," Finance and Planning Minister Dr Peter Phillips told persons attending an Economic Reform Programme Conference at the Montego Bay Convention Centre in St James last Friday.
With growing concerns about the instability in Venezuela and the possibility that the PetroCaribe oil deal with that country could come to an end, putting a strain on the country to find more foreign exchange to pay for oil, Phillips told the audience that Jamaica has the responsibility of having the reserves to deal with any unforeseen shocks.
"We cannot proceed in the world on the expectation that there is someone else, some other country, some other authority that accepts the responsibility to take us out of hardships should hardships occur. We need to prepare our own resources, set our own house in order to manage our affairs like independent sovereign countries are supposed to manage their affairs."
His comments were bolstered by the fact that growth has returned, debt is on a downward trajectory and multilateral flows are back.
REDUCING DEBT-TO-GDP RATIO
According to Phillips, the country's debt-to-GDP ratio will be about seven or eight per cent lower than it was at the start of last year.
"Instead of 147 per cent of GDP, we will be somewhere in the region of 139, or thereabouts. And we are determined to continue to move it down."
While recommitting to growing and reforming the fundamentals of the economy, Phillips noted that the manufacturing and energy sectors were down. He was, however, quick to point out that the mining and agriculture sectors were enjoying double-digit growth, while tourism and quarrying and construction were up between five and two per cent, respectively.
Phillips was supported by Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller, who told the conference that her administration recognises that a country cannot be built only on belt-tightening.
"The reality is that there is an obligation for us, as an admini-stration, to provide hope for an improvement in living conditions to those who have been left behind, and this hope cannot be based simply on good wishes and exhortation, but rather on concrete plans which will be reflected in the creation of new jobs and economic opportunities," declared Simpson Miller.
"I wish it to be fully understood, both at home and abroad, that while there may be differences in opinion about the way some issues are approached, my administration does not resile from taking responsibility for the corrective measures which we have put in place, recognising that we must remain committed to the protection of the most vulnerable social groups in our country," added Simpson Miller.