Williams says Fiscal Discipline Must Be Maintained

Minister without Portfolio in the Ministry of Finance and the Public Service, Hon. Fayval Williams, says fiscal discipline must be maintained for the country to move forward.

She said that as a Government, sustainable growth can be influenced through “policy continuity in areas that are benefitting the people, and through fiscal discipline.”

The Minister was speaking at the annual students’ conference of the School of Business Administration, University of Technology (UTech), at the Jamaica Conference Centre, on March 27.

“The upcoming fiscal year (2018/2019) demands the spending rule, which says that wages and salaries should be no more than nine per cent of GDP by March 31, 2019,” the Minister emphasised.

Mrs. Williams said that this spending rule will help to contain the wage bill, so that it is predictable.

The Minister pointed out that in order to continue the fiscal discipline and eventually realise economic growth, the seven per cent primary surplus as well as the nine per cent wage-to-GDP ratio must be achieved.

“The greatest gift that we can secure for generations to come is to ensure lasting economic growth,” Mrs. Williams said.

She challenged the students to contribute to the growth of the country by “being more productive in the workplace, by starting a small business, investing in your homeland, and generating new ideas and acting on them.”

The Minister added that growth will also be achieved through empowerment, efficiency, more productivity, innovation and consistency.

She said that Jamaicans must commit to the growth agenda “by adding value and having a positive impact by thinking of growth as an individual matter that can result from our individual decisions to be more and to do more.”