What’s really going between IMF and Jamaica ?

[Assasin]

The problem is can we take Dr. Phillips by his word? The PM said two weeks and he said nothing different. After taking office he gave the impression as if was soon and we had only a trust deficit. He also stated that we may not enter a borrowing agreement with the IMF. In his budget presentation he said IMF agreement soon, then he said in Autumn.

The problem is people are waiting and the silence is golden, while the stock market drop and the dollar slip as people are now wondering where we stand and this only put more pressure on carving out an agreement with the IMF.

I notice on Sunday one of his advisor in his weekly column floated the idea of cutting public servants and Phillips had promised no cuts. What about the tax reform, pension reform, the sale of CAP which are all pre cursor to any IMF deal.

[Lazie]

Who said two weeks..Portia or Peter?...You all know Portia nuh have nuh sense...Portia won on popularity and nothing else....They did go back on their word even though they can argue otherwise..Politricks..They said they would renegotiate an agreement..They have been renegotiating something..just not completed yet...see the play on words..
That said, the verdict is still out on Phillips..he has not done anything I've been impressed with but there is also nothing that I can say where he made any material blunders. In tough times like these, I hope he is pulling for all the help he can get.

taken from my article above
Stung by the failure of the previous administration to aggressively pursue fiscal reform under the standby agreement, the Fund apparently wants credible evidence of the new government's willingness to push through economically tough decisions.

"That's about right," Phillips agreed Tuesday, when asked the mostly likely timeline for a deal with the IMF after a working breakfast with Gleaner editors and reporters.

"It is not an immediate thing," he said. "We have months more (of negotiations)."

And I've seen reports of delays of discussions and meetings since then

So what were the hurdles that faced the previous admin? They needed to sell CAP. Todate it is a problem to offload. Public sector wages, last I checked the hero is facing the same challenge. Another is pension reform and there is tax reform as well.

Now if there were no buyers of CAP ... how else were they going to get rid of it? If there was no negotiations for pension and public sector wages , do you recommend that the gov't took the same approach as the Wisconsin Gov? Or worse the gov. of NJ?

Shaw told the nation time and again what was causing the problem ... the hero always insist a lie and unuh was quick to believe ... now unuh a face the same hurdles.

[Assasin]

How long is too long? Are we negociating a stand by agreement? Are we entering a borrowing agreement? Only Peter know what Peter is doing and what stage of the negociations we have reached.

He said his recent trip is not negociations so what is it? The longer he takes to address these the more the dollar going to devalue, and further inflation and money going into US bonds which make it harder for him. All the Analysts were saying we had a little time to have another agreement and not a whole lot of time.

[Plush]

I agree that the longer it takes, the more speculatioin and the more trouble for the econonmy. I also agre that more needs to be said even though I don't think he can reveal much given how sensitive negotiations are....He is in a rock and hard place because if he says much he will be held against it and crucified much more if he doesnt live up to any promise given....That's his Job though so come on Peter..guh chat to u bredrin Shaw if you want some advice..no bizniz weh Lazie a guh seh...