Petrojam chair Metry Seaga urges productivity shift as Q2 business confidence slips

Business confidence in Jamaica continued to fall in the second quarter of 2026, according to the JCC/GK Business and Consumer Confidence Indices released under the theme of how energy costs shape firm and household behaviour.

Serial entrepreneur Metry Seaga — founding president of the Jamaica Manufacturers and Exporters Association and a former three-year president of the Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica — said local employers must rethink productivity even as costs bite.

“As business people we have got to look at the bigger picture. Yes, there are some costs that are high in Jamaica but there are also some costs that we have had that have been traditionally low salaries for example depending on where you are comparing to. We have to change our perception of productivity. We have to change our mindset around productivity. Not just our workers but our management. Our management have to demand more and our management has to do more. We have to train people better. We have to train people and let them understand what it means to be productive and who we are competing against,” Seaga said.

As chairman of Petrojam, Jamaica’s sole petroleum refinery, Seaga also outlined how fuel prices are managed. He said the government has long used a smoothing technique that averages cost movements over the year so households and firms do not face sharp weekly swings. After the war began and international prices in some cases climbed to as much as $40 a litre, he said Petrojam absorbed a heavy hit and has so far spent about US$18 million subsidising fuel.

Seaga argued the state must eventually repay that outlay. Moving prices fully to market levels, he warned, would be highly inflationary — a risk the Prime Minister has flagged, noting that inflation is easy to stoke and hard to reverse.

Consumer survey responses pointed in a similar direction: 56 per cent favoured lower electricity rates, 38 per cent wanted more stable fuel prices, 28 per cent backed lower taxes on energy-efficient appliances, and 27 per cent sought easier financing for solar systems. Respondents also cited expanded renewables and stronger consumer education.

Seaga said households have little reason to keep paying steep light bills when solar kits and financing are available and payback periods have shortened, citing acquaintances whose bills run about $12 to $15. His own factory, he said, already runs 50 per cent on solar, with plans to cover the rest.

He suggested the government now accepts it is behind schedule and is weighing options previously sidelined. Pressed on Petrojam’s path, Seaga said the board wants the company involved across the energy mix — not only gasoline or heavy fuel oil, but LNG, solar and possibly nuclear — a shift that would need fresh investment, including from firms such as GraceKennedy. Capital markets, a participant indicated, stand ready to back such initiatives.