Speeches by the Prime Minister

Closing Address by Dr the Most Honourable Andrew Holness ON, PC, MP Prime Minister of Jamaica at the Digital Financial Inclusion and Transformation in Jamaica Launch of the World Bank Report on April 23, 2026 __________________________________________________________________   Ambassador the Honourable Audrey Marks, Minister of Efficiency, Innovation, and Digital Transformation; that's a huge title. We place great importance on what you do, and that we have carved out a section of the government to address this shows the seriousness of the government in these matters. I'm not seeing Minister Williams. Minister Williams should be here, and I don't see the financial secretary here. Well, in their place, let me acknowledge Minister Hill and other members of the government and permanent secretaries who may be here. Mr Harish Natarajan, Practice Manager, Financial Inclusion and Infrastructure, Finance, Competitiveness and Innovation (FCI), World Bank and other members of the World Bank team. Harish, I like your title, Practice Manager; that's the proper term. I've never heard it before, but I like it. I think I will adopt it. Dr Wayne Robertson, Senior Deputy Governor of the Bank of Jamaica, Representatives of public and private sector bodies, Representatives of the media, Ladies and gentlemen, it…

Greetings by Dr the Most Honourable Andrew Holness ON, PC, MP Prime Minister of Jamaica at the NHT’s 50th Anniversary Church Service Webster Memorial United Church on April 19, 2026 ______________________________________________________________   Good morning, church. Pardon me while I get my sermon in order. This is a kind of audience that inspires you to preach because I know you will listen, and you all look so well. Thank you for coming out and supporting the NHT. Allow me to do the formalities. I salute General Astor Carlyle. Forgive me, Reverend, but you know he has another capacity. Reverend Astor Carlyle, Senior Minister of the Webster Memorial United Church, My friend, Senator Professor Floyd Morris, representing the Leader of the Opposition and Mrs Morris, Mr Linval Freeman, Chairman. And I see the past chairman here and other members of the board of the National Housing Trust, Mr Martin Miller, Managing Director and members of the executive and broader NHT family. Thank you for your service. Members of the Webster Memorial United Church and other specially invited congregants, Members of the media, Jamaicans listening here at home and in the diaspora, it is a wonderful morning in Jamaica. Today, we gather in…

Acceptance Speech by Dr the Most Honourable Andrew Holness ON, PC, MP Prime Minister of Jamaica at the American Foundation for the University of the West Indies Legacy Award on April 17, 2026 ____________________________________________   Thank you, Chancellor, Vice Chancellor and Chairman, for this distinct honour. It is indeed a privilege. Before I begin my 20-minute presentation, let me congratulate my fellow honorees this evening. The journeys and the stories are indeed worthy of the recognition and the awards that you have received tonight. Importantly, they have not been about your own successes, but what you have contributed to the success of others. Now, let me say it is always to be carefully considered when awards are offered to serving politicians, because they may send the wrong signals. They may send the signal of mission accomplished, or now the end is near. Let me hasten to dispel any such view. I accept the award not as the completion of a mission, as we view legacy. I accept the award as recognition of hard work in progress, for which there are tangible results for people to see and identify. So, if there are those who are of the view that this…

Remarks by Dr the Most Honourable Andrew Holness ON, PC, MP Prime Minister of Jamaica at the NYU Stern School of Business Lecture on April 17, 2026 _______________________________________________________ Thank you for the invitation to address you this morning. It was such a great pleasure to meet your dean and Professor Statler. I'm looking forward to the conversation. I'm told that we are going to be talking about Jamaica's fiscal journey and exploring some of the experiences that Jamaica has had over the last decade in securing our fiscal future. Now, I want to begin by giving some context. Ten years ago, Jamaica was one of the most indebted countries in the world, moving from a national debt-to-GDP ratio of somewhere in the region of about 140% to today, just before Hurricane Melissa, we were almost cracking the 60% floor, so we have literally cut our debt in half, and for Jamaica, that is a significant achievement. In a sense, you could say that Jamaica's experience could be considered a laboratory for other small developing countries that struggle with debt management, but our fiscal success is not merely about Jamaica being able to balance its books. It's not only about being…

Keynote Address by Dr the Most Honourable Andrew Holness ON, PC, MP Prime Minister of Jamaica at the Recover Better Conference Post-Hurricane Reconstruction Forum on April 16, 2026 ________________________________________________________________   You will forgive me if I dispense with formalities. I believe I will make up for the time if I dispense with the formalities, but of course, allow me to acknowledge our permanent representative to the UN, Ambassador Brian Wallace, and our Acting CG, Mrs Bowen, and I want to thank you for filling the gap and standing in the breach for us. You will permit me to just reminisce a bit because as I entered the consulate, I was about to ask for Alsion, and I know that all of you here would have her in heart and mind. She was such a wonderful soul, a force of nature, and she is dearly missed. I'm certain we're moving through with plans to name this hall, this meeting room, in her honour. I think that was the last discussion we had. Of course, we will have to do something more than that for her, but knowing her, she wouldn't want us to delay too long, and she would want us…

Statement on NaRRA by Dr. the Most Honourable Andrew Holness, ON, PC, MP, Prime Minister of Jamaica at the  Sitting of the House of Representatives on April 14, 2026 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Madam Speaker, I now move for the suspension of the Standing Orders to enable me to take a second reading of a bill shortly entitled the National Reconstruction and Resilience Authority Act 2026, and to take it through all its concluding stages. My substantive presentation, allow me to join in the expression of happiness and gratitude and celebration of the 100th birthday of someone who served this nation with great pride and indeed great competence as a minister of education and a senator in this parliament serving both sides of the parliament. Dr Mavis Gilmore and I have two things in common. One, we were both ministers of education, and secondly, she's actually Mavis Holness; so yes, we do have some distant relations, so I want to wish her from Parliament, a happy birthday, and many, many more happy returns. Madam Speaker, the Standing Orders of the House helps us to arrange the business of the House such that everything is done orderly and transparently and I urge members to…

Keynote Address by The Most Honourable Andrew Holness ON, PC, MP Prime Minister of Jamaica at Ceremonial Launch of Re-Leaf Initiative Lowe River Forest Reserve, South Trelawny on March 25, 2026 _______________________________________   Excellency, Ministers, Distinguished ladies and gentlemen, Boys and girls, it is indeed a good afternoon. A few hours after Hurricane Melissa struck, I hopped on a helicopter, and I flew across the island, hugged the south coast and turned northwesterly to look at the damage caused by Hurricane Melissa. To best understand the impact of Hurricane Melissa, I draw the image in your mind of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima or Nagasaki in Japan to end World War II. Some of you may be familiar with those images; the younger ones may not. I encourage you to go and research it. It's much easier today to research these things than it would have been during my time and you would see the incredible devastation, not just to buildings and structures, but to our forests. In fact, you could say that there was a trail of destruction from where the storm hit first at New Hope, going across the Cockpit Country and coming out in St James,…

Greetings by Dr the Most Honourable Andrew Holness ON, PC, MP Prime Minister of Jamaica at the Faith Cathedral Deliverance Centre 50th Jubilee Anniversary on March 22, 2026 -------------------------------------------------------------------  Today I will not be preaching about dry bones. I will stick to the script that I've been provided, which is to bring greetings at this very August celebration of your 50th year. Fifty years in the life of anything is a long time and it rightfully should be honoured and respected. Your founder, Bishop the Honourable Dr Herro V. Blair, and Bishop Dr Alma Blair should be specially acknowledged and recognized. I had an engagement on Thursday last and it kind of went a bit too long, and so I was ordered to rest my voice, but I had to be here today. I just had to come. It is indeed a profound honour to join you for this historic occasion, the 50th Jubilee anniversary of the Deliverance Evangelic Association, a milestone that stands not only as a testament to longevity, but as evidence of faith sustained, services rendered, and lives transformed for over five decades. Fifty years is no small achievement. It represents generations of commitment of men and…

Keynote Address by Dr the Most Honourable Andrew Holness ON, PC, MP Prime Minister of Jamaica at the Official Launch of the WIHCON Chester Creek Development on March 3, 2026 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------  Allow me to establish, again, the formal protocols. Dr Alfred Dawes, Member of Parliament for Southeastern St Catherine, the area in which this project is undertaken. If I were to make a commentary on Dr Dawes, I always knew he wanted to be in politics and in fact, he could have very well joined me in politics, more anon. Mr Renair Benjamin, my schoolmate. Was I before you, or were you before me? I was your head boy. St Catherine High School is the largest single-shift school in the English-speaking Caribbean. From that school, there are many, many Jamaicans all over locally and abroad holding all kinds of positions, and they're doing very well, and so that is my route to commending you, Renair, for doing very well in your role as a councillor. My friend Joseph Matalon, Chairman of the ICD Group, And my other friend, Peter Melhado, Chairman of WIHCON and other executive members of WIHCON who are here, Executives and representatives of the private sector I…