JMEA Executive Director Kamesha Turner Blake
Executive Director of the Jamaica Manufacturers & Exporters Association (JMEA) Kamesha Turner Blake has pointed to the deficit in research and development in manufacturing and export sectors as the main reason for the country's inability to compete in its domestic and export markets.
She said this has contributed to the massive annual trade deficit, which was running at US$3.1 billion during the first five months of this year.
During that period, imports climbed by four per cent to US$3.9 billion while exports amounted to only US$675 million.
The manufacturing sector currently accounts for almost 10% of Gross Domestic Product and employs approximately 90,000 workers.
Speaking Wednesday in an interview on Radio Jamaica's Real Business, Ms. Turner Blake said internationally, manufacturing technology is now at 6.0 while Jamaica is at 3.0.
She stressed, however, that this was mainly because manufacturers do not have access to the affordable financing needed to invest in research and development along with the latest technology.
She also declared that the skilled labour needed to use this technology, and even to fix the machines, is not available, often causing companies to import the skilled workers needed to effect these repairs.
She stressed that access to affordable financing and the upskilling of the labour force are the keys to greater technological innovation and higher levels of productivity.
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