7 / 46
Poverty to Prosperity
Budget Presentation
Gordon House March 19, 2015
7
estimated at US$470. Fast forward to the present, over 50 years later, Jamaica‟s GDP per
capita in 2013 was US$5,290 for each of the estimated 2.8m million Jamaicans. Singapore‟s
GDP per capita in 2013 was US$55,182 per person in their 5.5 million population. How has
Singapore been able to grow its economy to the point where its GDP per man is more than
10 times that of Jamaica?
Today in Singapore a cleaner earns the equivalent of almost $100,000 Jamaican dollars per
month. A similarly employed person in Jamaica would earn just about 22,000 dollars. Mr.
Speaker, this is what you call under-development.
I raise this comparison not to make an academic point or score a political point. The real
point to be made is the movement from Poverty to prosperity for our people is possible. I
know some people believe that in their lifetime, Jamaica will never see the type of
transformation and growth that led to Singapore‟s first world quality of life. Singapore is
now ranked 9
th
in the world on the Human Development Index, which measures quality of
life, while Jamaica is ranked 96
th
of 183 countries. I know that our youth, with 50 years
ahead of them, don‟t all believe that Jamaica will ever be able to provide them with
education, employment and opportunities sufficient to achieve the quality of life they desire.
It is no wonder that over 50% of university graduates would migrate if given the chance.