We have not established a foundation to enhance growth : Peter Phillips

Dr Peter Phillips revealed something, that most well thinking Jamaicans already knew and in effect sought to “fess up” with us, but in true comrade fashion, also sought to deflect blame elsewhere.

The Gleaner is reporting that at a recent meeting held in Montego Bay, Dr Phillips the current minister of finance said the following:

Despite the gains made by Jamaica over the past 75 years, the country is yet to establish an economic foundation that will enhance growth and development and allow citizens to achieve their dreams if they work hard.

“For all of the gains that have been made… the protection of democracy, the right to free speech, the equality for women… it is clear that we still have too much poverty, too much unemployment, too many people who can only think of escaping from Jamaica in order to pursue life,

In true comrade form and in a moment of grand misdirection Dr Phillips continued with this asinine statement

“There is no doubt that with all the progress that we were making on that road to achieve that mission, the four years of the Jamaica Labour Party set us back in the worst way that you can imagine,” Dr Phillips told the Comrades

If Dr Phillips were talking to some dumb idiots who have no idea what Jamaica’s economic number were like when the PNP entered office in 1989 and left in 2007 and what they have managed to accomplish since then, then this statement could have gone unchallenged.

I think the PNP should simply retreat, call an elections so we can elect folks who are willing to do what is necessary to move Jamaica forward. We can no longer sit back and take comfort that Haiti is behind us, as can be seen in a recent post and others, Haiti is beginning to move forward, while the PNP continues to take us in reverse.

There is an old saying in Jamaica that goes like this ” A bad tradesman blames his tool”, nuff said.

When one reads the PNP Manifesto, one would have notice that there were no specfic growth targets, nothing to hold the PNP to, should they fail to achieve growth, yet despite this major flaw, the PNP were handed and even larger mandate than ever before. Clearly Jamaican voters had no interest in growth, only oxtail, pork and curry goat.

Here is what the Gleaner said back in 2011.

No Precise Growth, Debt Forecasts In PNP Manifesto

The Parliamentary Opposition People’s National Party (PNP) has avoided outlining any specific growth or debt projections to underpin its economic strategies if it wins the upcoming general election, and thus does not mirror the traditional stance in previous policy manuals or other public statements.

http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20111216/business/business3.html

After the IMF agreement was signed Peter Phillips noted the following :

“We must also build trust. We must also realise that we have embarked upon a national endeavour and all parts of all communities must be invested in our growth strategy for us to recognise success,” said Phillips, speaking at the launch of the Jamaica chapter of the Caribbean Growth Forum (CGF) at the University of the West Indies last Thursday.

“It may be that there is some symbolic significance that the day after the board agreement we are here discussing growth because it is a fact – and certainly the view of the Government – that this extended fund facility will have represented a wasted opportunity unless we are able to use the time to actually promote effectively a growth agenda,” he said.

“The higher-than-programmed levels for growth, the higher level programme in the Budget would allow us to overshoot the targets projected and indeed would have bolstered the mood and doubtfulness about the possibilities of growth itself and there is no reason why we can’t benefit from the opportunities for growth and indeed overshoot those targets,”

The PSOJ head was reported to have said the following :

“I talk frequently about the need to focus on growing our economy and I am very excited that we are finally at the place where we are taking concrete steps to changing the growth path and where representatives from the government, unions, private sector and international partner agencies are here to start rolling up our sleeves and actually getting stuff done,” he said

http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20130505/business/business7.html

The IMF Representative said the following:

THE agreement being pursued by the Jamaica Government with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has all the ingredients for economic growth, but success will depend on Jamaica’s efforts, said IMF senior resident representative Dr Gene Leon.

“I hear in the news all the time that the IMF programme does not have a growth programme, but everything is linked. So, you cannot separate a growth programme and a non-growth programme. We get growth by mixing capital, labour, energy and know-how,” Dr Leon said.

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/IMF-man-says-agreement-has-growth-plan_14067550#ixzz2cWEyXY92

To  now hear Dr Peter Phillips, the man in charge of driving growth saying ” We have not established a foundation to enhance growth” , leaves me very worried.

Can I say, I am NOT surprised by Dr Peter Phillips statement .