Jamaican govt policy focused on broadening ownership base of economy, says finance minister

The policy objective of the government is to broaden the ownership base of the economy says Jamaica's Minister of Finance and the Public Service Dr Nigel Clarke.

“With the decline in incidence of poverty, the increased employment rate, the low and stable inflation, and low market interest rates, the gains from Jamaica’s Economic Reform Programme have impacted hundreds of thousands of Jamaicans positively,” Clarke said in an address at the Rotary Club of Kingston weekly luncheon meeting at Jamaica Pegasus Hotel.

“This is only the beginning, however. The next step in our policy of 'economic opportunity for all' is to decisively broaden the ownership base of the Jamaican economy,” he added.

The finance minister said this initiative will be achieved in part, through the privatisation of state assets through the Jamaica Stock Exchange with bottom up, broad-based distribution.

“Jamaicans will soon have the opportunity to invest in the renewable energy industry through participation in the Wigton Wind Farm public offering. This will be the first energy company on the equity market”, he noted.

Clarke highlighted the continued strong performance of the Jamaica Stock Exchange and the recent acknowledgement by Bloomberg that the Jamaican economy is one of the best places in the world to invest over of the past few years.

He added that hundreds of thousands of participants in pension schemes would have benefited from these gains and with amendments to pension legislation and regulations to be tabled in parliament within the next financial year, many more will benefit.

Clarke also noted that businesses and individuals need to take advantage of the unprecedented economic opportunities available in this current environment.

He said, “no business has a right to profit; businesses have to take risk, innovate and compete to maintain profitability.”