Noel Thompson, Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
THE ADDITION of 120,000 Jamaicans to a welfare programme will cost the Government $1 billion annually, Prime Minister Bruce Golding has said.
The rise in beneficiaries will bring the total recipients under the Programme for the Advancement Through Health and Education to 360,000.
Golding said the monthly stipend has been increased from J$530 per person to $650 and $1,100 for persons with children. The increase, he said, would cost the Government an additional $1 billion annually to undertake the programme, but stressed that welfare for destitute people was a priority of his administration.
"We expect that before Christmas, we will have the 120,000 persons registered on the programme so that people, who are living below the poverty line, can get government assistance," he noted.
Golding was addressing party supporters at the South West St Elizabeth constituency conference, held at the Newell High School on Sunday night. The constituency registered 74 per cent voter turnout in the September 2007 general election, propelling Dr Christopher Tufton to a 2,000-vote victory.
Addressing the devaluation of the Jamaican dollar, the prime minister admitted that the currency's decline was caused by a ricochet of the global crisis.
Golding added that the Jamaican dollar was exposed to the world financial crunch as a result of loans brokered by the previous People's National Party (PNP) administration.
"When the Labour Party was in power, most of the money we borrowed was from multinational agencies such as the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank, which meant we did not have to borrow on the commercial market at higher rates," he said.
Hefty burden
Golding accused the PNP of borrowing 75 per cent of its debt on the commercial market, and 25 per cent from the multinational agencies which, he said, was the complete reverse of the Jamaica Labour Party administration in the 1980s.
He said the country was, therefore, left with a hefty debt burden of up to $952 billion, 95 per cent of which was incurred by the PNP.
The prime minister said Jamaicans would have to pay US$700 million (J$54 billion) to service the debt for this year alone and US$600 million (J$46 billion) in interest. He said, over the next two years, the figure should be reduced to approximately US$250 million (J$19 billion) and US$300 million (J$23 billion), respectively.
