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o
The truth is, this has not happened, though the PNP government keeps
proclaiming how good it has been at “bringing down the debt.” The reality
is the debt-to-GDP figures for FY2014/15 is 131.6%, not 119.6% as was
projected
and,
Mr Speaker, this 131.6% is no different from the 131.5%
that the JLP left when it demitted office. So Mr Speaker, where is the debt
reduction? And the Jamaican people cannot rely on the government’s
projections about the debt-to-GDP either.
o
I ask again, is the PNP government really ‘bringing down the debt’ or is it
simply
saying
it is bringing down the debt?” Is the government working,
working, working or is the government just chatting, chatting, chatting?
o
Oh, I should warn you that these figures that are published in the FPP are
lower than what you would see in the IMF’s EFF publication. For example,
while the PNP government talks about a debt-to-GDP ratio of 131.6% for
FY2014/15, in the fine prints, they tell you that the ratio is 8.1 percentage
points less than that calculated by the IMF. So instead of having 131.6% in a
table looking pretty, why not put the real figure of 139.7% for FY 2014/15?
o
I believe I know why. It would not look so good to report to the Jamaican
people that after two years of gut wrenching IMF austerity, the debt-to-
GDP, using the IMF’s measurement, has moved marginally from 141.7%
when the PNP government took office to 140.1% at the end of FY2014/15.
That is not a significant improvement and it certainly should not be on page
10 of the Minister’s budget speech listed under achievements.
o
Mr Speaker, for us the Jamaica Labour Party and for the country, Mr
Speaker, the important benchmark is where did the JLP handed over the
country to the PNP. The important question is, “Has the PNP government
improved on that?”