The Jamaican Government is proposing to use the stock market to raise funds for infrastructure projects in a move to avoid increasing the national debt, according to finance and the public service minister, Dr Nigel Clarke.
The country requires investments in the “hundreds of billions of dollars” over the next couple of years to maintain
its infrastructure, said Clarke in a wide-ranging address to investors at a forum organised by Mayberry Investments at the Knutsford Court Hotel, New Kingston, on Wednesday.
“That money cannot come all from the Government, but from the private sector,” he said. “The time will soon come that the finances for infrastructure projects will come from you,” Clarke told the audience comprising mostly private-sector interests.
The Government is planning to divest a series of assets, including Wigton Windfarm in Manchester this year, as well as some held by the Urban Development Corporation and the Port Authority of Jamaica. Those assets are operational companies held by the Government.
Referring to the Government’s intention to finance new projects via equity, Clarke said, “The idea is that as the government becomes more fiscally responsible a lot of these projects will be financed by the investing community. We are bringing forward these projects and you would be left with long-term gain.”
He added that the island remained the best place in the world to invest in the last five years when using the equity market as a measure.
Clarke also noted that the $68 billion capital expenditure on projects for this fiscal year has more than doubled the $32 billion spent some three years ago.
“It is the highest amount spent in last decade and even over a longer period of time,” he said, adding that “capital expenditure improves lives and allows for the generation of economic activity.”
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