KINGSTON, Jamaica – Jamaica’s Prime Minister, Bruce Golding, says the vital importance of exports to the Jamaican economy has never really been fully appreciated.
He said several campaigns such as ‘Export or Die’ have been mounted from time to time but Jamaica has never followed through in terms of the policy measures and action required.
Mr. Golding was speaking Wednesday (Oct.14) at the Jamaica Chamber of Commerce’s (JCC) first national economic forum on ‘Economic Growth Agenda’ at the Knutsford Court Hotel in Kingston.
Mr. Golding said Jamaica takes its foreign exchange receipts for granted. He noted that in an open economy where there is no control over the demand for foreign exchange, it becomes even more critical to be more sensitized about how the country earns that foreign exchange.
He said the country has been lulled into complacency because there are some hardworking Jamaicans abroad who send home their remittances, so much so that remittances have become the major source of foreign exchange inflows outstripping tourism and bauxite.
PM Golding addressing the Jamaica Chamber of Commerce’s first national economic forum on ‘Economic Growth Agenda’
