'Changing course not easy'

Prime Minister Bruce Golding yesterday conceded that his efforts to change course were being impeded by a range of obstacles over the last two years.

"Changing course has not been easy, and it has been made more difficult but more urgent by the impact of the global recession that has made tough decisions not just necessary, but inescapable," he declared in his Budget presentation.

Golding said that since the start of the recession, Jamaica lost US$2.7 billion in export earnings, another J$16.5 billion in bauxite revenue, and J$5.7 billion in general consumption tax.

"This is not fantasy; it is our reality, it is the burden we carry when we sit at the bargaining table with public-sector workers who demand wage increases," asserted Golding.

"It is the burden we carry when we try to pacify citizens protesting against bad roads or lack of water; it is the burden we carry when we are called on to roll back taxes," he added.