Jamaica appears to be approaching the 50th anniversary of its independence in a state of virtual debt bondage and IMF trusteeship. Mark Weisbrot argues that the austerity programme being imposed on the country, and on the eurozone countries, will push these economies even further into recession and ultimately make it harder for them to service their debts.
“The paper notes that Jamaica remains one of the most highly indebted countries in the world, and that its interest payments as a percent of GDP were higher than anywhere else in the world in 2011, including even crisis-stricken countries in the eurozone. Jamaica’s large debt burden has displaced most other public expenditures, taking up almost 50 percent of total budgeted spending over the last four fiscal years while health and education have been only around 20 percent combined.”
One of the journalists posing questions to the two panels of young politicians in the first debate of the Jamaican election pursued all six young leaders for radical solutions, in vain. I still hope that this emergent generation of politicians represented by both panelists has some radical ideas, but that we did not get them …
I thank the Chamber of Commerce of St Kitts-Nevis for inviting me to speak on the nature, prospects and challenges of an IMF borrowing arrangement. The timing is opportune as I understand that St Kitts-Nevis has recently concluded arrangements for a Standby Borrowing Arrangement with the IMF and Jamaica signed a similar agreement some 16 months before…
IMF Agreement Could Worsen Debt Burden, Harm Health and Education
Published by the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington, D.C., this paper finds that Jamaica’s economic and social progress has suffered considerably from the burden of an unsustainable debt; and that even after the debt restructuring of 2010, this burden remains unsustainable and very damaging. Pro-cyclical macroeconomic policies, implemented under the auspices of the IMF, have also damaged Jamaica’s recent and current economic prospects…
We commend the efforts of the Minister of Finance in coming to grips with some of the most difficult problems in the economy (but) relentless efforts must be made to root out corruption, non-performance and waste in the society as well as crime. Civil society and the Trade Unions have to become fully engaged in the co-management of the economy and see to it that every initiative announced through the Budget is implemented without delay…
What we have seen is a significant shift in the relation between people and power. Civil Society, united around common principles of accountability, transparency and integrity, reached across the several ideologies and sociologies which divides them and forged a common purpose and intent – to demand accountable government and set in place for posterity, standards of behaviour in public life…
