Opposition rejects claim JLP administration did not inherit a 'growing economy'

By Lorraine Mendez     

 

The parliamentary opposition is hitting back at claims by Prime Minister Andrew Holness about the state of the economy inherited by his administration when it came to power in 2016.

 

As both major political parties prepare for the upcoming local government elections, the arguments seem to be intensifying, with comments by Prime Minister Andrew Holness providing fodder for the latest row. 

 

"We did not inherit a growing economy. We didn't inherit an economy with many infrastructure projects. We didn't inherit an economy that was carrying in revenues that would avoid us increasing taxes. But we created that economy. We are building infrastructure,' he asserted Sunday at a Jamaica Labour Party Central Executive meeting.

 

His comments have elicited a strong response from the parliamentary opposition with Junior Shadow Minister on Finance Cleveland Tomlinson describing them as a "clear act of political expediency, lacking in both truth and factual support".

 

Shadow Minister on Finance and the Public Service Julian Robinson went further, asserting that in 2011, the PNP inherited an economy he describes as "teetering on the brink of collapse". 

 

"Contrary to what the Prime Minister has said, the country enjoyed three years of growth from 2013, 2014 to 2015. So when the JLP came back into office in 2016, they actually inherited an economy that was growing," Mr. Robinson argued.  

 

"It's important to know that when the JLP left office in 2011, there was a derailed IMF programme. The government of the day, of which the current Prime Minister was Prime Minister, had abandoned the IMF programme. When we came in 2012, under the leadership of Portia Simpson-Miller and Dr. Peter Phillips as Finance Minister, we had to renegotiate all those arrangements," he sought to explain.    

 

Mr. Robinson insisted that the public deserves an informed discussion about Jamaica's economic journey, free from what he calls "political mischaracterisations".