Celebrations of Jamaica's 50th anniversary of independence from British rule in 2012 were nothing short of grand. Jamaica 50 Secretariat, an entity created especially for the occasion, launched over 40 events across the country, ranging from galas for more than 20,000 participants to street dance festivals.
Yet, Dr Peter Phillips, who that year assumed his role as deputy prime minister and minister of finance, planning and the public service, was not in the mood to celebrate. The country’s ratio of debt to gross domestic product (GDP) was at 140%, its net international reserves in 2013 were half of what they were at the end of 2011 and the country’s GDP growth in the past three decades has been among the slowest of all developing nations.