2017/18 Budget: “Something for Everyone, More for Critical Some!” – Joe Issa

Founder of Cool Corp Joe Issa, a past economics and accounting major at not one, but two of the world’s top universities and hemispheres, who backs the free market and an adequate social safety net to deliver growth for Jamaica and a better life for workers, has characterized the 2017/18 budget as having something for everyone and more for some critical pillars of the economy.

Joey Issa

“I think this budget is well carved. First and foremost, we needed to continue the economic reform programme facilitating reduction in the country’s high debt structure of 120% of GDP (Gross Domestic Product), which is a major impediment to economic growth and a condition for our continued relationship with the IMF (International Monetary Fund) that also includes a primary surplus target of seven per cent of GDP.

“So I am pleased that these have been taken into account in casting the budget, evidenced by the over-50 per cent allocated to the Finance Ministry which leads the [economic] reform programme and in particular, the big increase in the amount allocated to pay debt, bearing in mind that as the debt goes down and more growth is realized, everyone benefits.

“In addition, it [the budget] needed to support the implementation of several growth-inducing [capital] projects, seen in the big increase in capital expenditure and the widening of the social safety net, as reflected by increases for PATH beneficiaries, as well as for the school feeding programme, which has gone up from three days to five days a week.

“Hence the priority given to making education and health care systems more relevant in the changing environment, increasing the capacity of the security forces to fight crime and protect citizens, facilitating the work of the PM’s Office to spur economic growth and create jobs, and renewing the focus on the justice system to not only bring greater justice to victims, but to also prevent incidents of crime and violence,” says Issa, in the interview, noting that he likes the choice of pillars under which crime will be fought.

The former London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) student, whose views on social and economic matters are widely sought, was commenting in an interview, on the just-tabled $710 billion budget for 2017-2018, which represented an increase of 20 per cent or $112 billion over the previous fiscal year and the sectors which featured more prominently, such as education, health, national security, economic growth and job creation, justice and the Prime Minister’s Office. All other sectors combined are allocated $52 billion. 

Commentators are said to agree with Issa that the budget has been cast to increase debt servicing, for which over $300 billion, an increase of 38 per cent is allocated and to comply with conditionality related to the fiscal targets in the renegotiated economic programme with the IMF, including the achievement of the primary balance target of 7 per cent GDP. Thus, the fiscal deficit was budgeted at 0.8 per cent of GDP.