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Finance Minister Audley Shaw is expressing confidence that the Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) will approve the country's application for a standby loan facility.
The application is to be considered on Thursday.
At the weekly post Cabinet press briefing on Wednesday, Mr. Shaw noted that if the US$1.3 billion facility is approved, it will mark a significant point of departure in the operations of government going forward.
According to Mr. Shaw, the IMF arrangement hinges on three key pillars, fiscal consolidation of government accounts, the implementation of a treasury management system to ensure better administration of government resources and successful take-up on the Jamaica Debt Exchange programme.
Audley Shaw, Finance Minister.
No sacred cows
The Finance Minister stressed that as part of the fiscal consolidation the government will have to take a long hard look at the public sector noting that no agency will be spared the efficiency acid test.
Mr. Shaw said loss making entities such as the Clarendon Alumina Production Limited (CAP) and the national airline are in the government's sights.
"There'll be no sacred cows ... we'll be looking at every agency (and) each agency will have to justify its useful life. The aim is to deliver services more efficiently to the people and among those enterprises would be the Clarendon Alumina Production, so instead of us learning money from our share of the production of alumina, through CAP, we have to paying out money in subsidies the cost of which has been averaging about US$10 million per month, almost J$1 billion per month," he said.
Air J divestment going as outlined by procurement guidelines
In the meantime, the Finance Minister again reiterated government's commitment to a transparent divestment process for the national airline Air Jamaica.
Mr. Shaw also sought to clear up what he described as some controversy surrounding the status of bids for the airline.
He noted that two bids were received for Air Jamaica from IndiGo and Trinidad based Caribbean Airlines.
He noted that when the deal with IndiGo fell through, due to a disagreement over how the current subsidy would be handled once the company took over, the government, as stipulated in the procurement rules, invited the only other bidder, Caribbean Airlines to come to the table.
Mr. Shaw said Caribbean airlines had sent a letter of intent from as early as 2008 and has now sent an updated letter of intent.
He also revealed that a draft shareholders agreement is also being prepared with Caribbean Airlines which would see the airline operating core routes.
Mr. Shaw did not go into further details except to say that a joint statement will be made by the government and Caribbean Airlines setting out the details of any agreement.
JALPA late in bidding
Turning to the bid submitted by the Jamaica Airline Pilots Association (JALPA), Mr. Shaw contended that the pilots' interest came late in the day, and could not supercede that of Caribbean Airlines which submitted its bid according to the time lines set out in the procurement procedures.
"The actual business plan from JALPA has only come to us within the past few days. A successful consideration of JALPA's interest based on a business plan and a credible financing plan would only therefore be looked at within the context of whether the second bidder for whatever reason was to fall out, then we'd have to reopen the bidding process such that others whether JALPA or others who wish to bid can do so," Mr. Shaw said.
The Finance Minister also cautioned to Granville Valentine, Vice President of the National Worker Union about statements made in relation to the divestment process.
The Finance minister called on the union representative to reconsider what he called threats about industrial action in relation to the divestment, noting that the IMF deal was not the main impetus behind the government's efforts to jettison the airline.
http://www.radiojamaica.com/content/view/24790/26/
The application is to be considered on Thursday.
At the weekly post Cabinet press briefing on Wednesday, Mr. Shaw noted that if the US$1.3 billion facility is approved, it will mark a significant point of departure in the operations of government going forward.
According to Mr. Shaw, the IMF arrangement hinges on three key pillars, fiscal consolidation of government accounts, the implementation of a treasury management system to ensure better administration of government resources and successful take-up on the Jamaica Debt Exchange programme.
Audley Shaw, Finance Minister.No sacred cows
The Finance Minister stressed that as part of the fiscal consolidation the government will have to take a long hard look at the public sector noting that no agency will be spared the efficiency acid test.
Mr. Shaw said loss making entities such as the Clarendon Alumina Production Limited (CAP) and the national airline are in the government's sights.
"There'll be no sacred cows ... we'll be looking at every agency (and) each agency will have to justify its useful life. The aim is to deliver services more efficiently to the people and among those enterprises would be the Clarendon Alumina Production, so instead of us learning money from our share of the production of alumina, through CAP, we have to paying out money in subsidies the cost of which has been averaging about US$10 million per month, almost J$1 billion per month," he said.
Air J divestment going as outlined by procurement guidelines
In the meantime, the Finance Minister again reiterated government's commitment to a transparent divestment process for the national airline Air Jamaica.Mr. Shaw also sought to clear up what he described as some controversy surrounding the status of bids for the airline.
He noted that two bids were received for Air Jamaica from IndiGo and Trinidad based Caribbean Airlines.
He noted that when the deal with IndiGo fell through, due to a disagreement over how the current subsidy would be handled once the company took over, the government, as stipulated in the procurement rules, invited the only other bidder, Caribbean Airlines to come to the table.
Mr. Shaw said Caribbean airlines had sent a letter of intent from as early as 2008 and has now sent an updated letter of intent.He also revealed that a draft shareholders agreement is also being prepared with Caribbean Airlines which would see the airline operating core routes.
Mr. Shaw did not go into further details except to say that a joint statement will be made by the government and Caribbean Airlines setting out the details of any agreement.
JALPA late in bidding
Turning to the bid submitted by the Jamaica Airline Pilots Association (JALPA), Mr. Shaw contended that the pilots' interest came late in the day, and could not supercede that of Caribbean Airlines which submitted its bid according to the time lines set out in the procurement procedures.
"The actual business plan from JALPA has only come to us within the past few days. A successful consideration of JALPA's interest based on a business plan and a credible financing plan would only therefore be looked at within the context of whether the second bidder for whatever reason was to fall out, then we'd have to reopen the bidding process such that others whether JALPA or others who wish to bid can do so," Mr. Shaw said.The Finance Minister also cautioned to Granville Valentine, Vice President of the National Worker Union about statements made in relation to the divestment process.
The Finance minister called on the union representative to reconsider what he called threats about industrial action in relation to the divestment, noting that the IMF deal was not the main impetus behind the government's efforts to jettison the airline.
http://www.radiojamaica.com/content/view/24790/26/
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