Delivering the keynote address at the opening of the conference, Jamaica Prime Minister Andrew Holness said, “We have established a strong record of macroeconomic stability and prudent fiscal management and have managed to maintain this even during the pandemic. Our debt-to-GDP ratio before the pandemic was 94 per cent and is now 96 per cent; only two percentage points higher. By contrast, several of our peers have seen increases of 20, 30, 40 and even 50 percentage points.”He added, “We are seeing a strong rebound in our economy after the pandemic, with an estimated six per cent growth recorded in the quarter ended March 2022. We are one of few countries in the region with no foreign exchange controls and a freely floating currency. We have a robust and well-established regulatory and fiscal regime for Special Economic Zones.

“We have a track record of large-scale public-private partnerships, as I mentioned earlier, for our air and sea ports and highways. We want to ensure that Jamaica is a nation full of opportunities for international investors as well as for local entrepreneurs. Trade and business are part of our Jamaican culture just as Reggae, jerk chicken and our amazing Blue Mountain coffee.”His words are not empty. Wherever you drive you can see significant construction taking place in the hotel sector. It has emerged as a major centre for Business Process Outsourcing and a global leader in improving the ease of doing business.

What was clear from the Prime Minister and the various ministers I interviewed, is that Jamaica is firm in its belief that the private sector must drive its economic revival and that it is not in competition with the sector.This does not mean that Jamaica is perfect. It still has unmanageable crime, its economy is substantially smaller than T&T, which is only half its physical size and has less than half its population and there are concerns about the inequality of the recovery and the quality of some of the BPO jobs. But what is clear is that the country embraces a free open market economy and as a result, has seen tangible improvements in its welfare.

Compare it to T&T, which seems to be limping along, hoping for long-term high energy prices, when we know for a fact that those prices are cyclical and will soon come to an end.

you can't teach an old dog new tricks ........ remember manning described him as a canine first not me .....

Jamaica is different from Trinidad. The motto of Jamaica is 'out of many cometh one'.
Jamaicans put Country before Party. In Trinidad we put Party before Country. Jamaicans love their Country. Trinidadians hate their Country.
The sounds a bit simplistic but then again I am a simple person.

Dr. Rowley cant and wont learn anything from anybody. He is just not humble enough.
"The Dr Keith Rowley administration must change its approach to governance and see the private sector as a partner in development and not in competition with the numerous state enterprises".
Actually he does partner with the private sector.....but only to make the rich richer and fatten his pocket.

The Jamaican government are getting most decisions wrong these days

Jamaica has always played a leadership role in the region. In the present set up with Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley being the titular leader of the region, Guyana, by the sheer size of its resources, inclusive of land-space, now emerging as an economic powerhouse and Jamaica showing what good economic policy can achieve, T&T’s Government must awaken from its proverbial slumber and chart a course forward that will combine sound economic policy with a commitment to a free-market economy, fiscal discipline and bold vision.

Only when we do that may we regain our confidence and do like the Jamaicans, who are boldly celebrating their 60th anniversary of independence this year, while we appear to want to pretend that a major event is not upon us.

Curtis Williams should know, that Dr. Rowley has no interest in learning anything. This is a man that saw himself becoming the Prime Minister, did eveything he could to do that, and has accomplished his goal. This is not a man that has any interest in his Country or his own people. Its all about Him. He doesn't care about the business community, crime, corruption, the economy, nothing. But there should have been a public outcry to remove the minister of finance years ago when we began to see the decisions being made by this incompetent finance minister and the effects that his decisions were and are having on our economy. But we are calling out Dr Rowley only, and we keep giving this finance minister chance after chance when obviously the man has to go. It is either Imbert has changed the economy for the better, or he has made it far worse, and obviously the economy is far worse than it was in 2016. He has driven our economy into ever increasing Debt and Economic destruction and people ike Curtis Williams with these stupid articles are not helping. Because where we end up is not Rowley's fault, it's ours. If Williams has anything to say about Dr Rowley it should be that Rowley is watching his country go down the tubes, seeing his ministers be incompetent, and that he is not concerned in the least.

The Jamaican government are getting most decisions wrong these days

Ask Christine

It's mostly owed to the Japanese people in the form of government bonds. The Japanese government owes each of its citizens about 7.5 million yen. Since 95% of its debt is held domestically, its economy is not as precarious as it would be if it were debt to foreign countries.