Government moves to assist victims of recent flood

Prime Minister Andrew Holness has assured persons who have been affected by the recent flood rains that the Government will be acting swiftly to mobilize resources for their assistance. Prime Minister Holness stated “I want to assure those who are affected that the Government will be acting swiftly and mobilizing resources quickly to as best as possible help to alleviate any dislocation and suffering that may be taking place now”. The Prime Minister's comments came this morning (Monday, October 26) during the commemoration service of the 109th anniversary of the birth of Jamaica’s second Prime Minister, the Most Honourable Donald Sangster at the National Heroes Park. Prime Minister Holness also asserted that the Government has been strategic in building resilience to strengthen the economy to respond to natural disasters. He also noted that despite the challenges of COVID-19 and weather shocks, the Jamaican economy is stable and is heading in the right direction. “The sacrifices that have been made in making the Jamaican economy fiscally sound places us in good standing to be able to respond to shocks, whether it is a pandemic shock or a natural disaster shock. Clearly, there will always be challenges. We don’t have all the resource to respond as adequately as the expectations of the Jamaican people would be; however, we are able to respond to certain shocks without necessarily having to borrow, and that is as a result of good fiscal management and planning”, said Prime Minister Holness.  Meanwhile, the Prime Minister further stated that, even though the pandemic has significantly affected the economy, the country has never gone into lockdown. According to the Prime Minister, the Government has been very strategic in reconfiguring business practices to control the spread of the pandemic.