Phillips rebukes JLP for ‘wrecking ball’ comment
Published:Tuesday | September 2, 2025 | 12:10 AMAlbert Ferguson/Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
Former Finance Minister Dr Peter Phillips has rubbished claims by the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) that the People’s National Party (PNP) “took a wrecking ball” to Jamaica’s economy in its last administration, describing it as “an assault on the truth in the most wicked way that the good Lord hates”.
Speaking at Sunday night’s PNP mass meeting in Montego Bay, Phillips dismissed the assertion, which has been repeatedly made by members of the JLP and was amplified during the election debates by Dr Dana Morris Dixon, who served as minister of education in the most recent JLP administration.
“The only wrecking ball that was around was in her brain that night,” said Phillips, in taking a political jab at Morris Dixon.
During the second political debate, which focused on the economy, Faval Williams, Dr Christopher Tufton and Morris Dixon of the JLP faced off with the PNP’s Julian Robinson, Keisha Anderson and Peter Bunting.
Morris Dixon accused the PNP of historically not being “fiscally responsible”.
“When the PNP was in government, they took a wrecking ball to our economy, and that’s a fact! When we (the JLP) took office nine years ago, we saw high unemployment, we saw high debt, we saw high crime rate, too, and we saw failing infrastructure, and this administration got to work, working on all of those areas,” she said.
However, according to Phillips, the PNP inherited an economy in crisis after the Bruce Golding-led Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) administration, which, he said, repeatedly failed to meet the terms of an International Monetary Fund (IMF) agreement.
“Make a tell you about the facts, because it is just not true,” said Phillips. “They entered an IMF programme in 2010 and could not pass it. Could not cross it. The IMF stopped lending to them after they failed to take the test. The World Bank stopped lending to them. The Inter-American Bank stopped lending to them. The European Union stopped lending to them. You could not get $1 anywhere.”
Phillips said that current JLP leader, Dr Andrew Holness, was then a member of Golding’s Cabinet and was part of the failed effort to convince international lenders.
“When Bruce Golding carried him (Holness) to Washington to meet with the IMF, he came back to Mandeville and promised bitter medicine. He knew that there was a crisis,” said Phillips.
Credibility, confidence
By contrast, Phillips said the PNP, under his stewardship, rebuilt confidence in Jamaica’s economy, restored credibility with international partners, and implemented tough but necessary reforms.
“We in the People’s National Party administration passed every single IMF test that was put there, every single one, and we met all instructional benchmarks, including some big legislation that strengthened the fiscal responsibility framework,” he said, crediting current PNP leader Mark Golding for his central role in shaping the reforms during his tenure as minister of justice.
Phillips also highlighted the measurable improvements under the PNP government between 2012 and 2016.
“Some time in 2010, inflation was 12 per cent. In 2016, annual inflation was down to 3.7 per cent. The NIR (net international reserves), which was less than US$700 million in 2012-2013, was US$2.7 billion by the time we reached 2016. In 2015, Bloomberg News in North America ranked the Jamaica Stock Exchange as the number one stock exchange in the world,” he said.
While acknowledging the public-sector wage freeze in the last PNP administration, Phillips said because of the funding arrangements that were in place, the PNP did not have a choice.
“It is because they (JLP) mashed it up. The IMF required as a precondition that we get the workers, the public-sector workers, to sign up to four years of wage freeze, or we couldn’t get a programme,” said Phillips. “It wasn’t the will of the PNP government. It was because the IMF said the economy couldn’t be fixed because of the damage that the Labourites had done, unless we were able to get the public-sector workers to sign up. And all of them did, because they trusted the government of the People’s National Party,” Philips explained.
Phillips further said the foundation for today’s stability in the economy was laid during the last PNP administration and said that under Golding, it would will pursue sound fiscal policies,
“The PNP will make growth a priority once again for the Jamaican economy, so that we can step up in life and lead an administration of honesty and integrity that will have no thieving in it, committed to good governance,” said Phillips.