We Must Convert Investments Into Infrastructure And Infrastructure Into Productivity

Added: 2026-05-30

[00:00:00]Jamaica's reconstruction cannot be financed by government alone. We will use concessional financing. We will use climate and resilience financing. We will use public-private partnerships, but we must also mobilize Jamaica's own savings. The long-term capital held in pension funds and insurance companies to help finance the infrastructure backbone of national reconstruction. And I will say this, much of what we will undertake in our national reconstruction and resilience building program will create long-term assets for the public good, for which the public must use, and which will generate long-term streams of reliable income. And that is the place where That's the sweet spot for pension funds.

[00:00:52]And we must find a way to have a channel for our pension funds to participate in infrastructure reconstruction.

[00:01:03]>> [applause] >> That is how mature economies develop. They convert savings into investment. They convert investment into infrastructure. They convert infrastructure into productivity. And they convert productivity into higher wages and higher living standards.

[00:01:28]>> [applause] >> Uh there is a false notion that you get higher wages by wage negotiations.

[00:01:36]That's That's a falsehood that every worker by now should realize. Increase in wages that are not backed by increase in productivity is only inflationary, which drives another cycle of wage negotiations, and you're constantly increasing the nominal value of your wage without truly improving the quality of your life. At every opportunity to say this, I say it because the thinking of the Jamaican worker must change. We already have examples of what can happen when infrastructure assets are properly structured and opened to Jamaican investors.

[00:02:21]TransJamaican Highway is one such example.

[00:02:24]It has allowed ordinary Jamaicans and institutional investors to participate in a national infrastructure asset. Its performance on the Jamaica Stock Exchange in recent years has demonstrated that infrastructure, when commercially viable and properly governed, can be both a development asset and an investment opportunity.

[00:02:47]But let me be clear, this is not an argument for indiscriminate investment.

[00:02:53]It is an argument for disciplined opportunity.

[00:02:57]Pension funds must never be treated as a convenient pool of money for weak projects.

[00:03:04]Contributor savings must be protected.

[00:03:08]Investments must be driven by prudence, value, governance, risk management, and long-term suitability. The objective is not to force pension capital into national development.

[00:03:22]The objective is to create bankable national development projects that pension capital can responsibly support.

[00:03:32]>> [applause] >> That distinction is critical.

[00:03:38]Reform must also address operational efficiency and public confidence.

[00:03:45]If we want to expand participation, the system must be able to scale.

[00:03:53]Delays in approvals, audit bottlenecks, administrative complexity, a nice word for bureaucracy, and regulatory uncertainty can weaken confidence and slow reform.

[00:04:13]Public education is therefore equally important.

[00:04:18]People must understand what pensions are, how they work, why starting early matters, and how small contributions today can create security tomorrow.

[00:04:33]A pension statement must not feel like a mystery, like looking at your light bill.

[00:04:44]Another area of reform that we are already working on.

[00:04:50]It must feel like ownership.

[00:04:53]It must feel like the worker can see a future being built step by step.