Taino Heritage

Prime Minister Bruce Golding recently admitted that his administration had been tardy in forwarding its legislative agenda. He them promised:

"You are going to see a much more active legislation session up to Christmas, and then up to the end of the fiscal year ... . Part of our challenge is going to be able to sustain the level of participation in Parliament,"

So with this welcomed renewed focus, we now learn that first up on the legislative agenda is a bill to introduce Casino gambling to Jamaica. Really? Off all the things that were promised but not delivered, casino gambling tops the list? How about the 'framework for good governance'? Streamlining the public sector? Creating a mega-investment agency? Creating a business friendly environment? How about addressing Jamaica's role/status regarding CARICOM? Casino gambling? Oh well...

See CaPRI's analysis of the government's performance in relation to its manifesto in 2007 here.

So I've actually been thinking about my own reaction to the news of the Jamaican government reentering a borrowing relationship with IMF and just haven't had the time to put it together. Then I read this Gleaner Op-Ed piece by Joseph Matalon saying pretty much most of what I wanted to say... and saying it much better than I probably could.

Its deserving of extensive quotion:

It has become trite commentary to say that Jamaica's economy is at a crossroads. The truth is that we have passed through a series of crossroads along the road to our current circumstances, each of which has presented certain choices in terms of policy direction; choices that we, as a people, have made.

We made a choice to perpetuate the underlying disequilibrium in our current account balances, to the extent that building foreign-exchange earnings and promoting export led growth became unfashionable notions; facilitated by the growth in remittances and foreign-direct investment

that served only to mask our chronic underlying underperformance;

During the unprecedented international credit boom, in which the current global financial crisis has its roots, we made the choice to avoid those hard policy decisions necessary to curb our chronic fiscal deficits, facilitated by easy access to the international capital markets;

We made the choice to eschew comprehensive tax reform in favour of ad-hoc policy tinkering and uneven enforcement practices;

We have repeatedly made the choice to prefer cheap, very often heavily subsidised, imported food stuffs to the more difficult course of preserving and building upon our agricultural and manufacturing bases by pursuing economic policies designed to enhance the productivity and competitiveness of our local productive sectors.

The consequences of these choices, exacerbated by the effects of the current global economic downturn, now stand in stark relief for us all to see. But, make no mistake; long before the collapse of Lehman Brothers in September 2008, the cumulative effect of these past policy choices have been propelling us inexorably towards our very own home-grown economic crisis.

If you want to read any of these articles I've highlighted about the IMF and Jamaica, let this be the one.

Al Edwards sites a number of recent examples of IMF programs around the World. Turns out they don't eat your young anymore!

Dennis Chung writes the most nuanced article I've seen so far on the topic of the IMF and the way forward for Jamaica. Kinda wonky but I recommend it. Here's a quote:

So while we fall at the feet of the IMF, let us remember that it is nothing more than a bank intent on being repaid, and just like a bridging loan for personal use, is no cure for a relative shortage of income. If we do not implement the necessary policies to transition during the period of IMF support we will only end up with more debt and the same problems.

R. Anne Shirley suggests that with the loss of revenue from the sugar and banana industries, has resulted in a "irrevocable fundamental shift" has taken place in the structure of the economy. She argues that a supplementary budget presentation would not be helpful at this time, but what is needed is a "comprehensive recovery and stabilization program" which would give a truer picture of Jamaica's problems.

Floyd Morris thinks that increased investment by the government into agricultural production is the way forward.

Wilberne Presaud compares Jamaica's relationship with the IMF to the role of the former Colonial Office.