Opposition Spokesman on Finance, Julian Robinson has chastised the Government for what is being deemed the continued failure to execute the Capital Budget.

Mr. Robinson was responding to a statement from the Independent Fiscal Commission (IFC) yesterday.

The IFC noted that only 20.1 billion dollars was spent in the first quarter of fiscal year 2025/26, against a budgeted 40.5 billion dollars.

This means nearly half of the planned capital spending has gone unexecuted in the first quarter of the fiscal year.

Mr. Robinson said Jamaica cannot afford the Government’s repeated failure to execute its Capital Budget, especially at a time when stronger economic growth is urgently needed to boost revenues and strengthen the country’s fiscal position.

Mr. Robinson stressed that the repeated under-spending on capital expenditure, particularly infrastructure projects, represents a growth-constraining concern.

He called on the Government to tackle the inefficiencies and bottlenecks in the public procurement system that are strangling the implementation of critical projects.