Prime Minister Holness Highlights Importance of the Global Services Sector

• Prime Minister, the Most Hon. Andrew Holness, has said that the global services sector (GSS) is a priority on the island’s growth agenda, demonstrated by the Government’s increased support of the sector since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic on the island last year. 
• He highlighted that in the face of the pandemic, the government moved quickly to provide support to the sector by allowing workers movement during curfew hours, enabling operators to continue to support critical verticals such as logistics, healthcare, banking and finance, and security. 
• He further noted that the government enabled work from home through a bond waver on computers from the special economic zones and provided support to JAMPRO in the skills development programme, which puts Jamaicans on a pathway to upgrade their skills, provide higher-value services to the sector and transition up the value chain. 
• Holness argued that these measures have helped to secure the jobs of about 43,000 employees, maintain stability within the sector and safeguard foreign exchange earnings on the island. 
• Notably, the sector has rebounded from temporary declines last year, to return to pre-pandemic numbers. The Prime minister further noted that the sector will play a key role in the nation’s digital transformation with the deployment of digital tools and services that enable a fully transformed digital economy, in keeping with the Vision 2030 Jamaica National Development Plan.

Source: (JIS News)