14 / 55
Page | 13
So I say again, what the Minister is holding up as achievement is NOT new,
except for the tabling of both the Estimates of Revenue and Expenditure at the
same time and the change in the timing of the budget presentations.
You know Minister, we teach our students that when they write their research
paper and quote from other people’s books or publications, they must
acknowledge the source. Minister, you could take a lesson and give credit
where credit is due. It won’t hurt you. Go back and look at the Bill that was
passed in Parliament in Feb 2010. What you are holding up as achievement is
NOT new.
Mr Speaker, the Finance Minister said that three years ago his administration
launched Jamaica’s Economic Reform Programme and that it was
appropriately captioned,
“A New and Binding Covenant for Stability,
Equitable Growth and Prosperity.” Well, Mr Speaker we don’t have stability,
growth is non-existent (let alone equitable) and we certainly don’t have
prosperity.
But I have to give it to the Minister for putting his finger on the reason for the
IMF programme. He said the programme is necessary because of one word:
DEBT. Mr Speaker, the Minister should know well of which he speaks. The
FINSAC debt added some 40% to the debt-to-GDP ratio in the 1990s, after the
PNP had inherited a debt of a mere $31 billion in 1989, and took it to almost
$1.0 trillion by 2007.
Yes, Mr Speaker, the Minister knows the answer quite well: DEBT.
Mr Speaker, I must also speak to the Minister’s often-times repeated
“restoring credibility with Washington” line. Let me say, Mr Speaker, Jamaica
ended its relationship with the IMF in the 1990s. There was a net outflow of
funds to the World Bank and the IDB as Jamaica sharply reduced borrowing
low cost loans from them. The Finance Minister of the day, preferred instead
to get easy to access but high cost money on Wall Street. He scoffed at the