Fayval Shirley Williams (née Johnston; born 28 May 1958) is a Jamaican politician who is the Minister of Finance and the Public Service and the Member of Parliament for the St Andrew Eastern constituency. Williams has held multiple ministerial positions, including Minister of Education and Youth, Minister of Science, Energy and Technology, and Minister without Portfolio in the Ministry of Finance and the Public Service. She is the first female to be a minister in the Ministry of Finance and the Public Service, and also the first female Minister of Science, Energy and Technology.
In the September 3, 2025 General Elections, Williams was re-elected to the House of Representatives as the member of parliament for St Andrew Eastern. She was sworn in at a ceremony held at the Houses of Parliament on 18 September 2025. It marked her third consecutive victory at the polls.
She had previously been re-elected in the September 3, 2020 General Elections, and was sworn in on 15 September 2020 at the Jamaica Conference Centre, in a ceremony adapted to public health protocols during the coronavirus pandemic.
Williams was first elected as Member of Parliament in the 2016 general election when she polled 7,143 votes to become the first female Member of Parliament for St Andrew Eastern. She is a member of the governing Jamaica Labour Party and has served as secretary for the party's Central Executive Committee. In June 2014, Fayval Williams was named as a member of the Jamaica Labour Party's Economic Advisory Council.
Education Fayval Williams is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA). She has a Master in Business Administration (MBA) with concentration in Finance from The Wharton Business School at the University of Pennsylvania. Williams is also the holder of and a Bachelor of Arts (cum laude) in Economics from Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Fayval attended Ferncourt High School in St Ann, Jamaica.
Early life and career Fayval Williams grew up in Ty Dixon, St Catherine and is the seventh of nine children of her parents Myrtle Johnston and James Johnston. Williams father was a carpenter who was known as a builder of Seventh Day Baptist Churches. Williams grew up as a Sabbath keeper under the influence of her mother and would attend church regularly on Saturdays. Williams attended Ty Dixon All-Age, now Ty Dixon Primary and Infant School. She then had to board with another family while she attended Ferncourt High School.
Politics
Fayval Williams was first sworn in as Member of Parliament in the House of Representatives on 10 March 2016.
She was presented as caretaker for the St Andrew Eastern constituency 23 March 2015 by the leader of the Jamaica Labour Party Andrew Holness after having been organising the constituency since early 2014. She was officially nominated as the Jamaica Labour Party candidate on February 9, 2016, at the Mona High School. Williams succeeded Dr Saphire Longmore as caretaker, who lost to the People's National Party's (PNP) Andre Hylton by 254 votes in the 2011 General Election. During the tenure of Dr St Aubyn Bartlett (former Member of Parliament), she served as constituency treasurer.
Williams secured a second term as member of parliament for St Andrew Eastern in the September 3, 2020 General Elections. Preliminary numbers published by the Electoral Office of Jamaica (EOJ) showed that Williams polling 6,972 votes to her opponent Venesha Phillips total of 4,730. The official results published by the EOJ showed that Williams polled 6,954 representing 58.77 per cent of the votes while Phillips polled 4,642 representing 39.23 per cent of the votes.
In the September 3, 2025 General Elections, Williams was against victorious at the polls, defeating the Peoples National Party's Patricia Duncan Sutherland. According to the official results, Williams amassed 6,737 votes while her opponent received 6,303. Carl Cargill of the Jamaica Progressive Party received 67 votes. With her victory, Williams has become the winningest MP for the constituency surpassing all the others who had been elected for two terms at most.
Ministry of Finance and the Public Service Following the results of the September 3, 2025 General Elections, Prime Minister Andrew Holness reappointed Williams to the Cabinet as minister of finance as the public service. She was sworn to office at King's House on September 17, 2025.
On 30 October 2024, Williams was announced as the Minister of Finance and the Public Service by Prime Minister Andrew Holness. She replaced Dr Nigel Clarke who resigned from the post to take up duties at the International Monetary Fund. Her appointment makes her the first female to become minister of finance and the public service.
Williams had been promoted to a full minister on March 23, 2018, by Prime Minister Andrew Holness in a Cabinet reshuffled to join Dr Nigel Clarke as ministers in the Ministry of Finance and the Public Service. She held the position of minister without portfolio. Her elevation to minister, made her the first female to be a full minister in the finance and public service ministry. On 7 March 2016, Fayval Williams was appointed as State Minister in the Ministry of Finance to work alongside Audley Shaw and Rudyard Spencer. Her portfolio responsibilities include but not limited to fiscal policy.
Budget 2025 On 11 March 2025, Fayval Williams opened the Budget Debate in the Jamaican House of Representatives, making her the first woman to do so in Jamaica's history. She defended the J$1.3 trillion expenditure budget for the 2025/26 fiscal year, announcing that, for the tenth consecutive time, the administration would not introduce any new taxes. Williams tabled the budget amid news that Jamaica had experienced two consecutive quarters of economic decline, meeting the criteria for a technical recession. However, the finance minister maintained that the economy remained resilient, attributing the downturn to a series of shocks during the 2024/25 fiscal year — including a prolonged drought, the devastating impact of Hurricane Beryl, Tropical Storm Raphael, and widespread flooding across all 14 parishes in November. She cited Fitch Ratings' February 2025 affirmation of a BB− rating with a positive outlook Jamaica's Long-Term Foreign-Currency Issuer Default Rating (IDR) as confirmation that the country had strong economic fundamentals.
Economic Policy Months after taking up post at the Finance Ministry, Fayval Williams informed that the government would be exploring alternatives 11.4 Billion annual National Housing Trust withdrawals for budget financing, effectively discontinuing the policy of the previous administration.
In her first Sectoral presentation in Parliament June 24, 2016, Williams disclosed that the Pensions (Public Service) Act to establish a contributory pension scheme in the public sector, is to come before Parliament. "Getting the public employee pension administration system completed is a key goal for this administration," Williams announced.
In July 2016, Fayval Williams pointed to the need for Jamaica to implement a national identification system.
As State Minister, Williams invited the Small Business Association of Jamaica (SBAJ) to formulate an implementation team to work with the government of Jamaica to strategise the growth and development of its members. Her invitation was triggered by the SBAJ announcing its three main goals for 2016 for which it seeks government intervention. She noted that government intervention is always necessary for the private sector of any economy. She signaled that the government would be willing to assist, but only if the implementation team was established.
Caribbean Financial Action Task Force Williams is the current chairman for the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFAFT). Her period of chairmanship is between the period of December 2024 and November 2025. She chaired the 60th CFAFT Plenary on May 28, 2025 in Trinidad and Tobago. Previously as minister of state in the Ministry of Finance and the Public Service, she delivered a special address at a CFAFT Plenary meeting in Jamaica on June 8, 2016.
Public Sector Policy Williams has argued that improving efficiencies through the modernisation and transformation of the public sector is critical in achieving higher levels of economic growth.
Ministry of Education Youth and Information COVID-19 Pandemic Williams became the minister in the ministry during the COVID-19 pandemic. During much of 2020, schools across Jamaica had been closed and teaching and learning were being conducted online. However, Williams led a pilot programme which involved 17 public schools resuming face-to-face teaching and learning. On 12 April 2022, Williams reported to parliament that the government had spent $1.8 billion to militate against learning loss across the education sector resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. She reported in May 2022 that daily school attendance was almost back to the pre-pandemic level of 75 per cent. The minister however conceded that the figure was still below world standards.
Device Distribution As a part of the government's response to COVID-19, Williams' ministry launched initiatives to provide tablets and laptops to students in need. These efforts aimed to bridge the digital divide and ensure that all students had the necessary tools to participate in online learning. She said that some 25,000 teachers across the island had been trained to utilise the technology in order to facilitate online learning amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Williams announced on 9 January 2023 that civics education was being reintroduced in the National Standards Curriculum at all levels. The minister emphasized that the program is a crucial addition to the curriculum that would help children become more aware of their identity as Jamaicans and progress toward becoming law-abiding, productive citizens in the future.
CPFSA Controversy On 11 January 2023, Williams tabled a report in the House of Representatives, published by the Office of the Advocate (OCA), of the findings of an investigation into the relationship between the Child Protection and Family Services Agency (CPFSA) and Carl Robanske, head of the US-based organisation Embracing Orphans. Robanske had been sanctioned in the US for exchanging sexually inappropriate messages to a minor. Williams said she was outraged at the findings of the report provided by the Office of the Children's Advocate while accusing chief executive officer of the CPFSA Rosalee Gage Grey disobeying instructions to sever ties with the American after the claims of sexual misconduct surfaced.
Williams said she was "misled" by Gage Grey and called on her to step aside while investigations are ongoing. Williams told Parliament that the police have been given the information necessary for a deeper probe to determine if charges can be brought against persons named in the OCA report.
Williams would later inform that Gage Grey would be separated from the CPFSA based on the recommendation of the Public Services Commission.
Marijuana Incident in School Williams shocked the world when she revealed on October 2, 2023, that over 60 students who attended a school in Saint Ann were hospitalised after they had eaten candy laced with cannabis. According to the education minister, the children, who were between 7 and 12, were in critical condition in hospital. Williams had shared an image on social media platform X showing a colorful packet of "full throttle rainbow sour belts," each containing 100 milligrams of THC. Jamaica decriminalised cannabis for people over 18 in 2015, with possession of 2 ounces (56 grams) or less downgraded to a petty offense. In the aftermath of the incident Williams had not announced any policy change in response.
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