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BY ALICIA ROACHE roachea@jamaicaobserver.com
Thursday, January 07, 2010
INDUSTRY analysts have called for a clear plan to move the country forward, saying that after three budgets and numerous meetings with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Government has presented no programme to grow the economy and provide stability.
The call was made at the Monday Exchange meeting of editors and reporters at the Observer's Beechwood Avenue offices in Kingston.
"Is there any plan put in place to utilise that fund in the best interest of Jamaica?" asked Dr Davidson Daway, an economist and educator.
He stressed that the US$1.2-billion stand-by loan facility that Government is seeking from the IMF cannot, by itself, create an environment that facilitates economic growth.
"We have to be practical about this and we have to do things that are going to bring about change at this time. What I see is people procrastinating, people not knowing which direction to turn and I think it's about time that we bring together our brightest minds," Dr Daway said.
Management consultant Karen Fitz-Ritson argued that the dependence on the IMF loan by itself is short-sighted.
"Suppose we don't get it, are we going to die? We cannot die; we have to find a solution. We have to create some sort of an instrument to bring about that kind of change that we are talking about," she said.
She also made an impassioned plea for a road map to achieve growth.
"We need to get back to basics and we need to know what put us there in the first place and get back to grass roots and move from there," she argued.
Meanwhile, financial analyst Dennis Chung said the recession and Jamaica's balance of payments problems should not be used as excuses for poor performance because a balance of payments problem also existed in periods of growth.
"There are only two periods that the economy has had any sustainable development or growth, the 1960s and the 1980s, and we can look at what happened over that period to see what the difference is between the 60s, 70s and the 80s and beyond. In the 1960s there was a production plan," Chung noted.
He pointed out that between 1962 and 2007, Jamaica grew 95 per cent -- 65 per cent in the first 10 years. The country, he said, grew an accumulated 15 per cent between 1982 and 1991.
"What happened in the 1980s is similar to what is happening now from a worldwide point of view. Between 1980 and 1982 we saw a significant worldwide recession," he said.
According to Chung, this followed on a period where Jamaica saw negative growth of over nine per cent in the 1970s, and an escalation in oil prices, but that it was the planning which took the country out of the recession. "What happened is that there was a plan and there was a shift in terms of how the Government at the time approached it," Chung said.
The analysts said there must be a correction of the fundamental flaws within the system, before any sustainable changes can take place. For Dr Daway, education of the masses is a crucial part of any plan to improve the prospects of development. He said that people need to be engaged in the process of change in order to be able to contribute to making the changes.
"In order for anything to change people have to be given the opportunity. If you don't have the opportunity there's nothing you can do to make a difference. And for Jamaicans really to be a part of everything that they are talking about we must educate them to what it is we are going to do," he said. "We are not engaging the masses enough. We dictate to them and people don't like to be dictated to."
http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/...01-10-_7303081
Thursday, January 07, 2010
INDUSTRY analysts have called for a clear plan to move the country forward, saying that after three budgets and numerous meetings with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Government has presented no programme to grow the economy and provide stability.
The call was made at the Monday Exchange meeting of editors and reporters at the Observer's Beechwood Avenue offices in Kingston.
"Is there any plan put in place to utilise that fund in the best interest of Jamaica?" asked Dr Davidson Daway, an economist and educator.
He stressed that the US$1.2-billion stand-by loan facility that Government is seeking from the IMF cannot, by itself, create an environment that facilitates economic growth.
"We have to be practical about this and we have to do things that are going to bring about change at this time. What I see is people procrastinating, people not knowing which direction to turn and I think it's about time that we bring together our brightest minds," Dr Daway said.
Management consultant Karen Fitz-Ritson argued that the dependence on the IMF loan by itself is short-sighted.
"Suppose we don't get it, are we going to die? We cannot die; we have to find a solution. We have to create some sort of an instrument to bring about that kind of change that we are talking about," she said.
She also made an impassioned plea for a road map to achieve growth.
"We need to get back to basics and we need to know what put us there in the first place and get back to grass roots and move from there," she argued.
Meanwhile, financial analyst Dennis Chung said the recession and Jamaica's balance of payments problems should not be used as excuses for poor performance because a balance of payments problem also existed in periods of growth.
"There are only two periods that the economy has had any sustainable development or growth, the 1960s and the 1980s, and we can look at what happened over that period to see what the difference is between the 60s, 70s and the 80s and beyond. In the 1960s there was a production plan," Chung noted.
He pointed out that between 1962 and 2007, Jamaica grew 95 per cent -- 65 per cent in the first 10 years. The country, he said, grew an accumulated 15 per cent between 1982 and 1991.
"What happened in the 1980s is similar to what is happening now from a worldwide point of view. Between 1980 and 1982 we saw a significant worldwide recession," he said.
According to Chung, this followed on a period where Jamaica saw negative growth of over nine per cent in the 1970s, and an escalation in oil prices, but that it was the planning which took the country out of the recession. "What happened is that there was a plan and there was a shift in terms of how the Government at the time approached it," Chung said.
The analysts said there must be a correction of the fundamental flaws within the system, before any sustainable changes can take place. For Dr Daway, education of the masses is a crucial part of any plan to improve the prospects of development. He said that people need to be engaged in the process of change in order to be able to contribute to making the changes.
"In order for anything to change people have to be given the opportunity. If you don't have the opportunity there's nothing you can do to make a difference. And for Jamaicans really to be a part of everything that they are talking about we must educate them to what it is we are going to do," he said. "We are not engaging the masses enough. We dictate to them and people don't like to be dictated to."
http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/...01-10-_7303081
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