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Caribbean & Central America - April 2012 (ISSN 1741-4458)
JAMAICA: PNP faces the challenges of success
Jamaica’s People’s National Party (PNP) must be feeling pleased with itself. It returned to power in the 29 December general election after a four-year absence, winning 42 of the 63 seats on offer. It has now followed this up with a decisive victory in the 26 March local elections, winning 12 of the country’s 13 parish councils while achieving a 4-4 tie with the opposition Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) in the 13th. Of the 228 parish council seats contested, the PNP won 150 against the JLP’s 75. All this political success has come amid a return to growth: in the last quarter of 2011, the economy grew by 1.7% year-on-year, to give overall growth for 2011 of 1.5%, the first annual advance since 2007. Remittances in 2011 were at their highest level for a decade at more than US$2bn. But despite all this, the latest International Monetary Fund (IMF) report points to strong headwinds to come for the PNP.
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