Chinese TV in Jamaica?

[MdmeX]

Well unuh tink the 500 million come wid no strings attached? Before we blink we gween have more Chinese cars than Japanese cars, Chinese banks, Chinese TV & radio, Chinese massage parlors & hotels.

Just nuh drink them milk and use dem toothpaste

[ReggaeMike]

nuh you seh wi have nuff income fi come in ??

Mek up yuh mind..

Mi nuh need fi mek up my mind. U need fi learn to count:

Revenue owed in taxes (government estimate):

J$50-138 billion

New IMF loan to Jamaica:

US$1.25 billion or J$112.5 billion

Existing external debts by Jamaica:

US$5.5 billion or J$495 billion (according to BOJ but they are counting direct debt) to US$9 billion or J$810 billion (according to other online stat sources)

Existing debt (minimum figure) + IMF loan = J$607.5 billion or basically over half a trillion. And this does not even factor in the Chinese loan for the road, nor the portion of that US$500 million which might be loans or the US$6.4 billion loan (J$576 billion) going towards houses in St. Elizabeth and St. Ann. That last loan alone would push the total debt to over J$ 1 trillion at a minimum.

If Jamaica can at best collect an extra J$138 billion in financing, how are we going to pay off between J$1,183.5 billion to J$1,498 billion in external debt (and this doesn't even count the internal debt) when in a year such as 2008 or 2009 normal tax revenue was estimated to be J$240-270 billion? The best case scenario would see a windfall of maybe J$400 billion in one year (normal revenue + back taxes + penalties) and then maybe J$320 billion a year afterwards (normal revenue + taxes not being avoided). However even next year's budget after initially being slashed by J$100 billion was still a whopping J$490 billion (and now is expected to be slightly more, closer to J$500 billion when adjustments were made). So in any given year Jamaica would be adding about J$100-200 billion to it's total debt (and not just it's external debt). The only way the debt burden is going to decrease is if Jamaica starts earning more than it spends and one way in which to do that is to stop borrowing when there are other avenues available (such as collecting back taxes and to cut spending and waste).

[Gamma]

what unnuh talking about?!!! look how long kickas a show pon sattideh? furthermore wi have INDIAN tv stations on cable already and for years now...

[Don1]

or the US$6.4 billion loan (J$576 billion) going towards houses in St. Elizabeth and St. Ann. That last loan alone would push the total debt to over J$ 1 trillion at a minimum.

That 6.4B has gotta be JA$.

[Don1]

LoL

So how come Daddy Bush is a big investor in Hutchinson Whampoa...or maybe yuh didnt know that?

I was never anybody's advisor.

What people have to understand...and some are too hardheaded to...the world is changing....so Jamaica also has to change.

As the Americans say..they don't have friends....only "interests". Jamaica too should only have interests...leff di naive friend bizniz to kids.

Once the Chinese have big investments and some influence in Jamaica...yuh ah guh si di US have nuff more interest in Jamaica... wi jus need fi play one gainst di odda...but also realizing bottomline that US will forever be the big don in dis neighborhood...suh yuh cyan guh ongly so far...

Ah jus suh it set... geopolitricks 101.

[Muadib]

and you need fi learn how to read.. US$6.4 Billion fi houses ??

lol ! Tek time bredrin..

Time is money.. dem get di Money upfront and will use dem 'salary' dat yuh seh owing fi pay it back as dem kalleck..

Mek sense to me.. you get yuh road build now suh yuh can use it.. den yuh tek time pay fi it at 2%...

Yuh know how much farin exchange fi front end parts dat will save ? How much man drive pon highway ???

[ReggaeMike]

and you need fi learn how to read.. US$6.4 Billion fi houses ??

Well given this was taken from the thread you started and the article itself doesn't directly specify then who knows? Do they usually write the figure for foreign loans in Jamaican dollars or US dollars? I've seen both and I've seen our papers refer to US dollar amounts without even putting "US" in front of the dollar sign at times. Maybe it's intentional, keep the reader guessing and have them practice their math.

[ReggaeMike]

That 6.4B has gotta be JA$.

Probably. The newspapers though tend to be a bit lax at times with their style so one can never be 100% sure which currency they are talking about.

Even then though Jamaica would be looking at an external debt of J$611 billion (minimum) or close to J$930 billion while at the same time only bringing in $320-400 billion (at best; normal revenue is J$240-270 billion) with expenditure ranging between J$500-600 billion. Any which way one wants to slice it there is no way that one can pay off J$611 billion in debt (or even J$1 in debt) while running deficits of J$100-200 billion.