JAMAICA`S ECONOMIC PROBLEMS, WHO IS TO BE BLAMED?

THE current economic situation in Jamaica is one that nobody is happy with, other than those political aligned to the governing  party and is benefiting via the corruption route. None existent growth and a structural reform program that is solely geared towards passing IMF test without accompanying growth initiatives to stimulate the economy cannot be the way forward for this country. The blind can see that. In the Senate
on Friday last, the Opposition JLP,Chairman, Bobby Montague, making his contribution to the state of the Nation, rightly compare the Government economic(are lack thereof) policy to man "high" on cocaine. He rightly pointed out that the present economic program with the IMF is destroying the country, as things like social services and infrastructure development are been neglected to the point where it is endangering public safety.

One wonders if the Government is "high" on something why they continue to pursue a policy that is contractionary in every way possible. Tax returns are under performing as is expected, because of this simple fact: their is a taxable limit in an economy whereby their is no growth and taxes and cost of living is going up. Jamaica has reached that taxable limit. Shrinking incomes cannot sustain a government tax program as we currently have, because the Government is sucking out money out of the Economy that otherwise would have gone to the buying of goods and services, and is not been replaced or supplemented by another means. Remittances isnt what it use to be, from the global recession hit some years ago sending the global economy into a tizzy, and for the large part hasn't recovered sufficiently, to create jobs for Jamaicans overseas who have traditionally supported their love ones here by sending money home regularly,that lost their jobs in the recession

 And to drive home that point, from in the 1990`s, the only form of monetary activity that has brought money into this economy-other than tourism, has been remittances. That has prop up a government economic model, of stifling economic growth in favor of borrowing. This is what has cause our present crisis.

the 1980`s, the Jamaican economy recovered from the devastation brought on by the communist lap dance, instituted by a man that either was smoking cocaine, or suffering from some form of degenerative disease, and was producing impressive growth rates. But what must be noted, is that those growth rates was not brought about by the waving of a magic wand, but by simply doing the basics right:producing things other countries are willing to buy. We had a thriving clothes manufacturing sector, comming out of the Caribbean Basin Initiative (CBI), and other forms of Manufacturing. Those industries alongside bauxite to a lesser extent, produce those impressive growth rates of 5 or more per cent per annum. After the JLP was voted out of office, we saw those growth rates dipped precipitously and hasn't recovered since. The question now that has to be asked is why in Gods name did Mr. Patterson and Omar Davies deviated from the economic policyin  that was enriching the Nation? That question may not be answered for the rest of our life time. But to make it even more astonishing, is that in 1996, the same Government came up with what became known the National Industrial Policy(NIP)-yes i know alot of you reading this have never heard of such a policy before now-that was geared towards and i quote from the foreword:

 the goal of achieving a per capita income of $4,000 by the year 2010.

How will this be acheived? I quote again:"

This requires an average annual growth in GDP of six percent. (p. iii) … At the same time, the government is committed to developing an integrated and structured approach to economic policy. … Accordingly, policies for stabilization of the macro economy must be integrated with policies for promoting growth and diversification of production.

Wonderful aint it? Oh yes. Growth rates of 6% was needed to allow Jamaicans to enjoy per capita income of $4000 US dollars by 2010. But why was there such a need for growth rates of that magnitude? Simple. The PNP abandoned  a growth policy that was export oriented, and substituted in its place, a debt accumulation policy, and not only that, but the systematic, and well thought out destruction of the financial sector, wiping out yet again a substantial part of the Jamaican economy. It wasn't just the banks that went under but alot of other businesses that just couldn't manage the ridiculous interest rates that was been charged to barrow money. But even then, the PNP understood the need to get Jamaica back on the growth track. So the obvious question is why didnt they do it? They didnt do it for two reasons: (a) they place a larger emphasis on winning elections rather than governing well and (B) they didnt know how to do it. They still dont know how to do it decades after. While the NIP called for such impressive growth rates, the government then didnt see it fit to do what was necessary to produce such growth rates. What they did was started on the policy of deficit spending. Not only was money wasted on ill concieved projects like NETSERV, but alot of it was siphoned off to win elections. In the runup to the 2002 general election, state resources was mobilized in such away as to secure a win at the polls even though the Government knew it was ruinous economically! Talk about wicked! Then Omar by some providence of God or just sheer contempt for Jamaicans made it know in his now infamous "run wid it" speech. Not to mention, the many millions that went into the pockets of many persons in the form of cost overruns on projects such as Sandals Whitehouse.

So its pretty plain to me that the Government deviated from the NIP not by coincidence but by design. They knew that if they were to produce such economic prosperity, their is no way under heaven certain people who is essential to winning elections, could get rich, without working.You see the PNP understands economics this way: If i cant make the money fast enough am going to barrow until i have enough. Now the cost of all those bad policies, destroying the economic foundation left by Mr.Seaga, the dumping in file 13 of the NIP, is what we are seeing now-a failing state. In some sectors a failed state. The current IMF policy is only postponing the inevitable-a total collapse of the economic base of the country and a decent into taotal anarchy. That only can be averted by a removal of them from office, or a total re-thinking of the present economic strategy.For mei prefer a total removal.