Government Remains Committed to Growth Agenda – Finance Minister

Finance and the Public Service Minister, Hon. Fayval Williams, says the Government remains committed to the country’s growth agenda.

However, the Minister pointed out that this can often be disrupted by devastating weather events.

“That is why our efforts over several years to build buffers to help protect this nation and our Budget are so incredibly important to maintain,” she said.

The Minister was speaking in the House of Representatives on Tuesday (April 1), at Gordon House.

Mrs. Williams also informed that the Statistical Institute of Jamaica (STATIN) has released the quarterly gross domestic product (GDP) results for the fourth quarter (October to December) of the calendar year 2024.

“While the GDP growth figure for the December quarter is negative 0.8 per cent, it is significantly better than the estimate that the Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ) thought we would have experienced, which is negative 1.8 per cent. The PIOJ has indicated that the areas of variation were primary in wholesale/retail and tourism. This means these sectors did better than anticipated,” she said.

There was also recovery in the mining and quarrying sector, which saw a deep decline of 17.4 per cent in the third quarter and has experienced significant improvement since then.

The PIOJ and STATIN provide the country with quarterly and annual GDP figures.

The PIOJ provides an estimate of GDP growth earlier in the following quarter, while STATIN provides a definitive GDP growth figure.

For the January to March 2025 quarter, the PIOJ is projecting growth within the range of 0.1 per cent to one per cent.