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EDITORIAL - Economy Must Be Election Talking Point
Published: Tuesday | November 29, 2011
There may have been mild disagreements over degree, but there could be no question about the consensus among academics and societal leaders, who discussed the matter at The Gleaner's headquarters last Friday that Jamaica's economy is in crisis.
It is also the common position that Jamaica can still be rescued, but with two critical warnings:
That the medicine necessary for recovery will be bitter and unlikely to be welcomed by the society; and
That whichever party forms the government after the next general election, or even before, will have to immediately get on with the job of administering the brew.
Alternatively, the country, even if it does not quite deny the severity of the illness, could continue on palliatives which, while providing short-term relief, won't halt a terminal decline.
"I am convinced that with appropriate policy decisions and with appropriate support, we can make significant changes," said Professor Alvin Wint, an economist at the University of the West Indies (UWI), Mona.
Dr Damien King, another economist, agrees that "options do exist".
Crisis graver than many think
Indeed, they do. The concern of this newspaper, though, is despite the acknowledgement by Prime Minister Andrew Holness of the country's difficulties, neither problems nor solutions are being discussed with the necessary intensity, either by his Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) or the People's National Party (PNP).
This crisis is reflected in the country's debt, which at the end of August registered one thousand, six hundred thousand million dollars ($1.6 trillion), which was $86 billion higher than it was at the end of December 2010. Or, the debt, during the first eight months of this year, rose by more than $200 million a day.
http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/2...cleisure1.html
Published: Tuesday | November 29, 2011
There may have been mild disagreements over degree, but there could be no question about the consensus among academics and societal leaders, who discussed the matter at The Gleaner's headquarters last Friday that Jamaica's economy is in crisis.
It is also the common position that Jamaica can still be rescued, but with two critical warnings:
That the medicine necessary for recovery will be bitter and unlikely to be welcomed by the society; and
That whichever party forms the government after the next general election, or even before, will have to immediately get on with the job of administering the brew.
Alternatively, the country, even if it does not quite deny the severity of the illness, could continue on palliatives which, while providing short-term relief, won't halt a terminal decline.
"I am convinced that with appropriate policy decisions and with appropriate support, we can make significant changes," said Professor Alvin Wint, an economist at the University of the West Indies (UWI), Mona.
Dr Damien King, another economist, agrees that "options do exist".
Crisis graver than many think
Indeed, they do. The concern of this newspaper, though, is despite the acknowledgement by Prime Minister Andrew Holness of the country's difficulties, neither problems nor solutions are being discussed with the necessary intensity, either by his Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) or the People's National Party (PNP).
This crisis is reflected in the country's debt, which at the end of August registered one thousand, six hundred thousand million dollars ($1.6 trillion), which was $86 billion higher than it was at the end of December 2010. Or, the debt, during the first eight months of this year, rose by more than $200 million a day.
http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/2...cleisure1.html
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