Tweet
Though we saw the photos confirming the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) between Jamaica and China in April 2019, Foreign Affairs Minister Kamina Johnson Smith is still to furnish the Jamaican public with the actual details of this deepening of the relationship.
While we await the details, and as the Global Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) Conference is held this month, our government must ensure that it is acting in our best interest, as it is now old news that terms of these loans are usually attracting interest rates which are higher than that available from our traditional sources. This is no small matter, as we owe the people of China $79 billion in debt and so I want to register my reservations.
As any student of economics will remind the PM, without the multiplier effect being felt throughout the economy, the FDI will be of no real benefit. Should we need any reminder of this fact, we need only to revisit the growth which took place within the first five years after Jamaica’s Independence. It was a growth that was not felt throughout the country. It might have been time for us to follow what the Malaysian government has done, as it has not only renegotiated its agreement with China, but it has secured the inclusion of a provision that states clearly that the local workforce (civil workers) on each project must be 40 per cent, which used to stand at 30 per cent.
http://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/c...viewed-embrace
While we await the details, and as the Global Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) Conference is held this month, our government must ensure that it is acting in our best interest, as it is now old news that terms of these loans are usually attracting interest rates which are higher than that available from our traditional sources. This is no small matter, as we owe the people of China $79 billion in debt and so I want to register my reservations.
As any student of economics will remind the PM, without the multiplier effect being felt throughout the economy, the FDI will be of no real benefit. Should we need any reminder of this fact, we need only to revisit the growth which took place within the first five years after Jamaica’s Independence. It was a growth that was not felt throughout the country. It might have been time for us to follow what the Malaysian government has done, as it has not only renegotiated its agreement with China, but it has secured the inclusion of a provision that states clearly that the local workforce (civil workers) on each project must be 40 per cent, which used to stand at 30 per cent.
http://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/c...viewed-embrace
Paul Marin -19 is one thing, 20 is a whole other matter. It gets even worse if they win the UCL. *groan*. 
05/18/2011.MU fans naah cough, but all a unuh a vomit?-Lazie 1/11/2015
Comment