Minister Williams said the "primary impetus" for this is the speed with which the economy is rebounding following the devastation caused by Category 5 Hurricane Melissa in October of last year. "Madam I do not believe that anyone who travelled to Western Jamaica to look at the devastation would have believed then that we would be expecting positive GDP growth for the full fiscal year 2026/27 given the devastation," Williams said. "Madam Speaker, that is the result of a government that leads from the front, businesses that take responsibility for their value to the Jamaican people and a population that knows what it is like to get up and go." #BudgetDebate2026 #Jamaica #JamaicaObserver #AlwaysAhead #NationalBudget