Portia says budget will set Jamaica back

Opposition Leader Portia Simpson Miller has said that the budget presented by the government threatens to derail the island's economic recovery.

"Jamaica is now at a delicate a stage of recovery and the budget being presented threatens to derail that recovery," Simpson Miller said during her contribution to the budget debate.

"This administaration is already proving itself to be a government of announcements which bear no relationship to formal policy and budgetary provisions to support those policies," she added.

"How else can you explain the several announcements and clarifications made by the education minister since taking office. The auxiliary fee confusion has cast a shadow over the future of our education system."

She said that the minister announced an end to auxiliary fees without adequate allocations  to schools to fill the gap the removal will create.

"This is what happens when you develop policies on a fly and without consultation," Simpson Miller said.

She said that an underfunded education system will set back the "tremendous" gains made in the four years her party held power.