Economic Challenges Must Be Understood by Key Leaders, Dr. Tufton

As Jamaica weathers the current economic challenges, key leaders must understand their role in working to overcome the difficulties that have been created, according to Minister of Agriculture, Dr. Christopher Tufton.
The minister, who was the keynote speaker at a Manchester Chamber of Commerce function at the Golf View Hotel, Mandeville, on Thursday(February 5), said that with sound policy direction the country could face the problems without panic.
“The challenges that the world faces today, require that leaders, at all levels in Jamaica, understand what these challenges are, their extent and why, as a Government, certain decisions have to be made to stabilize sectors in the economy, and the options available to us,” Dr.Tufton said.
“We can overcome. Others have overcome. The issue is really to embrace the strategy and vision to work our way out of what is clearly inevitable,” he added.
Dr. Tufton said that the current economic situation gives rise to Jamaica building its own capacity to depend more on locally produced goods, as both culture and state policy had put consumers in a dependency, mode, where they preferred foreign produced goods over locally produced ones.
“And with that, countries like Jamaica are vulnerable to the current climate, as over time we have become over-dependent on external activities to sustain our internal activities,” he explained.
He acknowledged that the situation facing the bauxite industry is tough, but assured that the audience that the Government would do whatever is necessary to cushion any fall out that might result.