Golding slams 'low-keyed and disappointing' government plans for new fiscal year

Opposition Leader Mark Golding has criticised the 2025 Throne Speech as “low-keyed and disappointing,” asserting that the presentation which usually sets forth the Government's priorities for its legislative agenda failed to do so.

Golding’s unpacking of the speech, delivered by Custos of Kingston Steadman Fuller, came at a press conference immediately after its presentation at the opening of the Jamaican Parliament.

“It really didn’t deliver anything likely to excite any voters. It was really more trying to spin things that have already taken place in a particular light,” said Golding at the conference held in the Opposition’s meeting room at Gordon House.

“In terms of announcing new things there was very little in it of note that would catch people’s attention. The legislative agenda is weak, extremely weak, which is not surprising because the legislative performance of this Government has been extremely weak,” Golding said.

He said nothing in the speech addressed how the Government plans to deal with the technical recession Jamaica experienced in the second half of 2024, with two consecutive quarters of negative growth.

Further, he said concerns regarding food insecurity raised recently in a United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization report were not addressed and noted that the country is unclear about the current poverty level because the numbers have not been made public since the COVID pandemic.

“When we see that report on food insecurity and the recession in the economy, we are very concerned about that. The reality is that the economy is not doing well. They aren’t speaking to how they intend to turn it around,” he said.

Golding said the Government intends to finance the fiscal budget coming to a close by a one-off transaction, selling 12 years of future income to cover programmes, he said, will have no lasting impact on economic growth and development.

“[They] are purely feel-good programmes with temporary effects and that is very poor economic management and we are very concerned because we are wondering how they intend to finance this coming year’s budget without that money being available next time round,” the opposition leader said, adding that over $70 billion was yielded from the sale of the future income from the Norman Manley International Airport (NMIA).

The Government secured US$480 million or ($70 billion) via a structured securitisation transaction in international capital markets.

Securitisation of the NMIA revenue was achieved through the issue of a US$480 million, 12-year bond in the international capital markets by Kingston Airport Revenue Finance Ltd, the issuer.

- Kimone Francis

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