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Poverty to Prosperity
Budget Presentation
Gordon House March 19, 2015
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Mr. Speaker, when I became the Member of Parliament for West Central St Andrew, as a
community, we sat together and developed a vision of what we wanted our community to
be. Mr. Speaker, while we have not achieved all we set out to accomplish, but we can boast
significant developments in relation to commerce, law enforcement, education and
community development. The people of West Central St. Andrew are forging ahead. They
have stepped up and have embraced the vision of moving from Poverty to Prosperity.
Introduction
A thematic description of Jamaica during our independent statehood is "development
delayed". We are a people of so much promise and potential but we never seem to be able
to fulfil that promise or realize our potential in a timely fashion. We often use the
comparison of Singapore and Jamaica, a tale of two countries that started at similar levels
of development 50 years ago, but today have secured contrasting outcomes for their
citizens.
Singapore has stepped up and has moved its people from Poverty to Prosperity. We can do
the same.
In 1962, Jamaica‟s GDP per capita in current US Dollar terms was approximately US$460 for
every Jamaican living in the country at the time. Singapore‟s GDP per capita in 1962 was