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Kevin O'Brien Chang
In domino terms, Prime Minister Bruce Golding has drawn an economic hand with six doubles, meaning he has very few options on how to play his cards. After all, Jamaica entered the global financial crisis with a net government deficit of 113 per cent, the fourth highest in the world, leading Forbes magazine to list it as one of the world's ten hardest hit economies - and this was before bauxite collapsed and remittances plunged.
In all probability, the raft of tax increases announced by finance minister Audley Shaw on Thursday was largely dictated by International Monetary Fund (IMF) conditionalities. We can weep and wail and gnash our teeth and abuse the heartless IMF to 'kingdom come', but deep down we all know Jamaica is reaping the bitter fruits of decades of borrow-and-spend government, and the chickens have now come home to roost. Beggars can't be choosers, and borrowers can't dictate terms from lenders. It's not like the IMF is an invading army holding guns to our heads and saying, "Take this money or else!" We are the ones pleading for a lona. The IMF is merely saying, as all bankers do, "You want money to borrow? Well here are my conditions. Take it or leave it." And given the gigantic hole in the budget right now and the fact that nobody else will lend us any more money, Jamaica has two choices - negotiate an IMF agreement, or declare national bankruptcy.
http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/glean...us/focus3.html
In domino terms, Prime Minister Bruce Golding has drawn an economic hand with six doubles, meaning he has very few options on how to play his cards. After all, Jamaica entered the global financial crisis with a net government deficit of 113 per cent, the fourth highest in the world, leading Forbes magazine to list it as one of the world's ten hardest hit economies - and this was before bauxite collapsed and remittances plunged.
In all probability, the raft of tax increases announced by finance minister Audley Shaw on Thursday was largely dictated by International Monetary Fund (IMF) conditionalities. We can weep and wail and gnash our teeth and abuse the heartless IMF to 'kingdom come', but deep down we all know Jamaica is reaping the bitter fruits of decades of borrow-and-spend government, and the chickens have now come home to roost. Beggars can't be choosers, and borrowers can't dictate terms from lenders. It's not like the IMF is an invading army holding guns to our heads and saying, "Take this money or else!" We are the ones pleading for a lona. The IMF is merely saying, as all bankers do, "You want money to borrow? Well here are my conditions. Take it or leave it." And given the gigantic hole in the budget right now and the fact that nobody else will lend us any more money, Jamaica has two choices - negotiate an IMF agreement, or declare national bankruptcy.
http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/glean...us/focus3.html