Hill wants local exports ramped up to close trade deficit
Published:Saturday | October 22, 2022 | 12:08 AMJudana Murphy/Gleaner Writer
Senator Aubyn Hill has charged that more focus must be placed on exports if Jamaica is to achieve economic independence.
Citing 2021 data, Hill, the minister of industry, investment and commerce, said Jamaica imported goods and services valued at US$5.975 billion and exported US$1.441 billion.
“The gap is US$4.5 billion. Might I tell how big of a trouble we can be in? One import item, fossil fuel, cost us US$2 billion in 2021. That dwarfs the mere US$1.441 billion that we export,” he said on Friday while making his contribution to the State of the Nation Debate in the Upper House.
Hill said that more goods and services need to be exported in order to begin to close the deficit, by Jamaicans deploying “professional perseverance, innovation, entrepreneurship and a relentless dedication” to export what they can today.
He reasoned that Jamaicans should also continue to create products and services that will make the country competitive and successful in overseas markets.
For the period January to June 2022, Jamaica imported US$3.758 billion in goods and services and exported a mere US$801 million.
The government senator stressed that Jamaica cannot survive that way.
Since Independence in 1962, Hill said that there has only been one year – 1966 – when there was a positive trade balance, meaning that Jamaica’s exports exceeded the value of its imports.
“We need to export a lot more or we’re gonna remain poor. Jamaica is not going to get rich selling to three million people who are relatively poor. For us Jamaicans to realise the economic independence that we deserve, we must make products, craft and services that can sell around the world,” he said.
The minister noted further that increased exports can, among other things, create more and better employment opportunities, boost businesses to enhance tax revenues to the Government, and reduce the country’s debt-to-GDP ratio.
The Ministry of Industry, Investment and Commerce recently established an expert team to gather industry data to help design and implement a broader plan of action as the Government seeks to strengthen the country’s export sector.
“We know there are challenges, but we believe that the future is promising,” Hill remarked.