Phillips: Government mismanaging economy - Says country trying to catch up on coronavirus
Published:Wednesday | March 18, 2020 | 12:20 AMRomario Scott/Gleaner Writer
Opposition Leader Dr Peter Phillips yesterday rapped the Government for failing to craft a Budget that cushioned the harsh realities facing the Jamaican people and slammed the administration’s preparations for COVID-19 that is now affecting the country.
Phillips, who was making his presentation in Parliament, said that life for many Jamaicans was not “bubbling up” – a swipe at a popular refrain in the speech given by Finance Minister Dr Nigel Clarke as he opened the Budget Debate last week.
“Most have been victims or witness to violent crime or murder gripping the country,” Phillips remarked. “The minister of finance opened the Budget Debate last week with a description of bubbling up and the country moving in the right direction. That is not the reality of the majority of Jamaicans who are barely eking out a living from hand to mouth – pay cheque to pay cheque.
The opposition leader blasted the Government for, in his opinion, mismanaging the economy.
Phillips lambasted the finance minister for shifting blame to the bauxite industry for the slowing down of the economy. He was referring to shuttering of the Chinese-owned JISCO operations in St Elizabeth for upgrading the plant. The factory is expected to be closed for at least two years.
“It is not bauxite alone that crash. The same thing happen with cocoa, coffee and other export crops,” said the opposition leader.
“The reality is too much politics and too little management,” he said, citing overruns of $2.3 billion in the implementation of the Major Infrastructure Development Programme.
He also castigated the Holness administration for not being proactive in preparing for COVID-19.
“The $7 billion contingency budget would have given more bang for the buck if it had been frontloaded in expenditure going all the way back to January,” Phillips said, saying there was no mention of the implications of COVID-19 for the economy during the Standing Finance Committee of Parliament when the Budget was being examined.
“Now we trying to catch up in many respects,” he added.
Phillips said the COVID-19 will have dire effects on the economy, adding to the hardship of the Jamaican people.
“We are in for a rough ride,” he said.