EDITORS' FORUM - Promoting sustainable growth
published: Monday | November 27, 2006 <DIV class=KonaBody>
Opposition spokesman on Finance, Audley Shaw. - Andrew Smith/Photography Editor
Last Wednesday, The Gleaner hosted Audley Shaw, Opposition spokesman on <SPAN class=kLink style="FONT-WEIGHT: 400; COLOR: orange! important; FONT-FAMILY: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; POSITION: relative">Finance</SPAN> and the Public Service, at a Gleaner Editors' Forum. Mr. Shaw was questioned on a range of issues relevant to his shadow portfolio. Today, we present excerpts from the forum.
I have come to the conclusion that there are some structural weaknesses in the economy that militate against the growth, significant growth, and I just want to briefly summarise them.
The four areas that I've identified that are of immediate need of attention would be, number one, the debt burden of the country. It has to be dealt with in a very specific and unambiguous fashion.
Secondly, we need a sensible energy policy. An <SPAN class=kLink style="FONT-WEIGHT: 400; COLOR: orange! important; FONT-FAMILY: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; POSITION: relative">energy</SPAN> policy that takes into account the fact that we are heavily oil dependent at present and that the cost of energy production in <SPAN class=kLink style="FONT-WEIGHT: 400; COLOR: orange! important; FONT-FAMILY: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; POSITION: relative">Jamaica</SPAN> is way above the international average ... the cost of producing electricity ... we have to look at that. Because, unless you can deal over time with reducing the cost of energy in Jamaica, then you are not going to be able to have any significant impact on really taming <A class=kLink oncontextmenu="return false;" id=KonaLink3 onmouseover=adlinkMouseOver(event,this,3); style="POSITION: static; TEXT-DECORATION: underline! important" onclick=adlinkMouseClick(event,this,3); onmouseout=adlinkMouseOut(event,this,3); href="http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20061127/business/business1.html#" target=_new><SPAN class=kLink
published: Monday | November 27, 2006 <DIV class=KonaBody>
Opposition spokesman on Finance, Audley Shaw. - Andrew Smith/Photography Editor
Last Wednesday, The Gleaner hosted Audley Shaw, Opposition spokesman on <SPAN class=kLink style="FONT-WEIGHT: 400; COLOR: orange! important; FONT-FAMILY: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; POSITION: relative">Finance</SPAN> and the Public Service, at a Gleaner Editors' Forum. Mr. Shaw was questioned on a range of issues relevant to his shadow portfolio. Today, we present excerpts from the forum.
I have come to the conclusion that there are some structural weaknesses in the economy that militate against the growth, significant growth, and I just want to briefly summarise them.
The four areas that I've identified that are of immediate need of attention would be, number one, the debt burden of the country. It has to be dealt with in a very specific and unambiguous fashion.
Secondly, we need a sensible energy policy. An <SPAN class=kLink style="FONT-WEIGHT: 400; COLOR: orange! important; FONT-FAMILY: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; POSITION: relative">energy</SPAN> policy that takes into account the fact that we are heavily oil dependent at present and that the cost of energy production in <SPAN class=kLink style="FONT-WEIGHT: 400; COLOR: orange! important; FONT-FAMILY: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; POSITION: relative">Jamaica</SPAN> is way above the international average ... the cost of producing electricity ... we have to look at that. Because, unless you can deal over time with reducing the cost of energy in Jamaica, then you are not going to be able to have any significant impact on really taming <A class=kLink oncontextmenu="return false;" id=KonaLink3 onmouseover=adlinkMouseOver(event,this,3); style="POSITION: static; TEXT-DECORATION: underline! important" onclick=adlinkMouseClick(event,this,3); onmouseout=adlinkMouseOut(event,this,3); href="http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20061127/business/business1.html#" target=_new><SPAN class=kLink
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