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JMA concerned that Government could kill manufacturing sector

Published:Friday | June 13, 2014 | 12:00 AM
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Brian Pengelley (centre), president of the Jamaica Manufacturers' Association (JMA), in discussion with Metry Seaga (right) and Claude Fletcher, general manager of Jamaica Exporters' Association. Photos by Rudolph Brown/ Photographer
Omar Azan, past president of the JMA and CEO of Boss Furniture, catches up with Belinda Williams, manager, group corporate communications, National Commercial Bank.
Brian Pengelley has something interesting to say to Ernest Gran, general manager at Rainforest Seafoods.
JMA President Brian Pengelley poses with Georgette Bolton-Smith (centre) and Patrene Davis-Walcott at the launch of the JMA's Buy Jamaican public-education campaign in Kingston on Wednesday.
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Tash-Shawna Doeman, Gleaner Intern

To further enhance the country's Buy Jamaican, Build Jamaica campaign, on Wednesday, the Jamaica Manufacturers' Association (JMA) launched a public-education campaign at Rainforest Seafoods' complex on Slipe Road in Kingston, where JMA President Brian Pengelley stressed the importance of supporting the wide range of innovative, quality and competitively priced products made in Jamaica.

Pengelley also noted that there would be a bill that, if passed by Parliament, would see the end of the manufacturing sector.

"I understand that without any prior direct consultation with the private sector, the Government has or will introduce in Parliament a bill covering amendments to the GCT Act that, if passed, will effectively ensure the end of the manufacturing sector, put thousands of people out of work, with a huge knock-on effect on their families and convert us fully to an import-dominated market that consumes huge amounts of FX (foreign exchange) that the country does not have."

Among the details he outlined from information he had gleaned were that the amendment would remove the provision that manufacturers currently enjoy of deferment on GCT for raw materials and capital equipment to modernise our plants.

He also said the amendment calls for GCT to be paid on these inputs at the point of importation, which the JMA had, after some arm-twisting, agreed to as it saw this as the sector playing its role in widening the tax net, but its stance has always been that, like the present system, refunds could be claimed in the next filing period.

Pengelley noted that buying local helps to stimulate employment, retain valuable foreign exchange, generate revenue for the Government, and encourage the expansion and modernisation of the manufacturing sector.

The campaign, which is endorsed by the RJR Group, will be using print advertisements, a jingle, a song, animated television commercials and a Facebook campaign to help to generate awareness and increase consumption.