Kenny Benjamin, head of GuardsmanLtd., gives Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller an anniversary kiss at a luncheon at the Pegasus hotel in St. Andrew on Friday. The luncheon was in honour of her first anniversary as Prime Minister. Her husband, Errald, looks on.
Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller announced last night that $850 million has been committed by lending institutions for disbursement to small entrepreneurs under a loan programme financed by the National Insurance Fund (NIF).
Last year, the Government had pledged to disburse $1 billion from the NIF to fund the initiative.
The Prime Minister's announcement at the time was met with strong resistance from Opposition Leader, Bruce Golding who warned the Government not to touch money earmarked for pensioners.
However, Mrs. Simpson Miller insisted that the money would be provided for persons who wanted to develop micro enterprises.
In a national broadcast on her first anniversary as head of government, Mrs. Simpson Miller said her administration had achieved several targets over the last year.
Declaring that she was giving an account of her stewardship, the Prime Minister pointed to the government's efforts at improving the justice system, saying that $436 million has been allocated for this purpose.
In addition, she said $1.35 billion has been allocated to rehabilitate and build courthouses.
More needed to be done
Turning to crime and violence, Mrs. Simpson Miller conceded that a lot more needed to be done to address this scourge, but argued that some progress was made in tackling the problem last year.
Commenting on the economy, the Prime Minister said there were positive indicators. "Inflation was 5.8 per cent, the lowest in decades. Interest rates declined not once, not twice, but four times in the past year, bringing interest rates to its lowest level in over 20 years," she added.
A 24 per cent growth in the agriculture sector, "record number of investment projects", and net international reserves at the end of last year amounting to US$2.4 billion were also highlighted.
