Ricardo Makyn/Staff Photographer
Dr Michael Whitter, senior lecturer in the Department of Economics at the University of the West Indies, Mona, gives his presentation on the socio-economic cost of poverty during a seminar on the cost of poverty in the Caribbean, held at Knutsford Court Hotel in New Kingston, last week.

Poverty costs the Jamaican economy up to $20 billion, according to research undertaken by a senior academic at the University of the West Indies (UWI).

Dr Michael Whitter, senior lecturer in the Department of Economics at the UWI, said these losses, which equate to about four per cent of gross domestic product (GDP), were caused by three main factors. These factors are the cost of crime, 1.3 per cent; health, 1.2 per cent; and unemployment, 1.3 per cent.

GDP, which the World Bank estimated for Jamaica at $500 billion last year, is defined as the total market value of all final goods and services produced within a given country in a given period of time.

Perception of poverty

Whitter, who was speaking at a seminar on the cost of poverty in the Caribbean, held at Knutsford Court Hotel in New Kingston last week, called for a shift in the perception of poverty alleviation as a liability.

"Instead of regarding poverty alleviation as an undesirable cost, we should look at the alleviation of poverty as an investment in society, therefore developing a nation that will allow people to be productive," he told local and regional participants at the seminar.

Delegates from Montserrat, Grenada, St Lucia, and various other countries attended the seminar organised by the International Institute for Social, Political & Economic Change (IISPEC).

Dr Jaslin Salmon, president of IISPEC, said the objective of the seminar was to discuss policies, programmes, and practices required to reduce poverty.

Standard of living

"In developing a nation, you want to ensure that people don't live below a certain standard," Salmon said.

Gemma Bain-Thomas, of Grenada's Ministry of Social Development, said programmes and policies, implemented by governments to assist the needy, often fail due to poor research and inadequate emphasis on getting households out of poverty.

"Programmes and policies are usually done for political expedience. They need to be more mission-driven with clear targets and with the involvement of stakeholders," she said.