Tweet
Dennise Williams
Friday, October 26, 2007
Finance minister, Audley Shaw, says that Jamaica must diversify beyond tourism if the economy is to grow.
Speaking with Caribbean Business Report while attending the Commonwealth Finance Ministers Meeting in Guyana, Shaw stated that the new administration has a "single-minded focus" to put the country on the path to growth.
Shaw also acknowledged that there were high expectations and promised to "signal aggressive private sector investment across the board."
Agriculture and IT
He then pointed to areas that he said would propel the country forward. "Over the years we have focused on tourism in the main but what is required is something broad based."
Agriculture along with information technology were the two main areas that Shaw focused on. "Our information technology sector is underdeveloped. We like what we see in Montego Bay but want to expand that."
Shaw noted that his goal is to capture 1.5 per cent of the world market for information technology. "I want to expand beyond call centres to include services such as computer-aided design facilities that would create 100,000 jobs and revenue for the country of US$1 billion." Shaw says that he will use Jamaica Trade and Invest (formerly Jampro) to push growth in that industry.
Food processing
Additionally, Shaw wants Jamaica to move beyond just growing food to food processing for the local and international markets, plus, "we intend to revisit manufacturing. We all wear clothes and so we want to reinvest in the garment manufacturing industry."
As outlined in the Jamaica Labour Party manifesto, Shaw pointed to the redevelopment of downtown Kingston into the financial capital of the Caribbean. "There will be a mega project happening downtown, but I cannot give details just yet. However, I will say that it will involve the construction of houses and office buildings. There will be a massive private sector investment."
Returning to the issue of high expectation, Shaw noted that it was early days yet and while it would take time for several of his initiatives to bear fruit, all of them were "hot button issues" that has his immediate attention.
http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/magaz...ISM___SHAW.asp
Friday, October 26, 2007
Finance minister, Audley Shaw, says that Jamaica must diversify beyond tourism if the economy is to grow.
Speaking with Caribbean Business Report while attending the Commonwealth Finance Ministers Meeting in Guyana, Shaw stated that the new administration has a "single-minded focus" to put the country on the path to growth.
Shaw also acknowledged that there were high expectations and promised to "signal aggressive private sector investment across the board."
Agriculture and IT
He then pointed to areas that he said would propel the country forward. "Over the years we have focused on tourism in the main but what is required is something broad based."
Agriculture along with information technology were the two main areas that Shaw focused on. "Our information technology sector is underdeveloped. We like what we see in Montego Bay but want to expand that."
Shaw noted that his goal is to capture 1.5 per cent of the world market for information technology. "I want to expand beyond call centres to include services such as computer-aided design facilities that would create 100,000 jobs and revenue for the country of US$1 billion." Shaw says that he will use Jamaica Trade and Invest (formerly Jampro) to push growth in that industry.
Food processing
Additionally, Shaw wants Jamaica to move beyond just growing food to food processing for the local and international markets, plus, "we intend to revisit manufacturing. We all wear clothes and so we want to reinvest in the garment manufacturing industry."
As outlined in the Jamaica Labour Party manifesto, Shaw pointed to the redevelopment of downtown Kingston into the financial capital of the Caribbean. "There will be a mega project happening downtown, but I cannot give details just yet. However, I will say that it will involve the construction of houses and office buildings. There will be a massive private sector investment."
Returning to the issue of high expectation, Shaw noted that it was early days yet and while it would take time for several of his initiatives to bear fruit, all of them were "hot button issues" that has his immediate attention.
http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/magaz...ISM___SHAW.asp
Comment