AT times there are heated debates in Jamaica over the use of the Jamaican vernacular. Every language has a time and place for use and the smart person would be well-advised to be multilingual, or at least bilingual, to converse with more persons in the world around them. Those who knock the Jamaican patois variant would be flabbergasted to know that there is an interesting use of Standard English that can be just as confusing to non-speakers. As an example let us look at IMF language of structural adjustment and what it really means.
It comes from the latest IMF outline of the policy changes it wishes the present Government (or any new Government) to adopt. Now unless you understand the jargon of IMF patois you might be wondering what do they mean, so I will be also simplifying such for you.
They advised against assuming additional debt under the government deferred financing scheme, with its borrowing costs at 1.5-2.5 per cent above Treasury bill rates. This will mean that since the use of deferred financing (i.e. borrowing off the books, to be added at a later date) is creating problems in measuring the correct fiscal deficit, the government should end this practice. In short, cut down social expenditures, which has been the main beneficiary of this practice.
A new Staff Monitored Programme (SMP) will require quick implementation of revenue-enhancing measures. This will mean expect hikes in taxes, across the board and higher government user fees.
Expenditures are to be held slightly below the levels in 2001/2002 as higher interest payments offsets lower non-interest spending. This means control wage/salary increases and cut government expenditure where possible. In conjunction with another IMF stricture to increase labour market flexibility, this means that the various public sector bargaining units can look at wage controls, and job losses for recalcitrant groups. It is an ominous warning for labour negotiations. Additional language such as increases in the minimum wage in recent years were significantly above the rate of inflation, should be taken to mean cut the 'real wages' i.e. erode the purchasing power of these workers, unless productivity rises.
The gross borrowing requirement for the central government is expected to fall significantly this year both domestically and externally. In addition multilateral inflows and net external commercial borrowings are expected to decline. All of this means that the government will have to borrow less, moreover expect less official supporting funds.
The government has agreed to consider merging the Education Tax with the general Income Tax. The IMF Staff suggested NIS, NHT and HEART contributions be merged into the income tax to reduce the administrative burden on taxpayers. The government agreed that these contributions could be streamlined. In plain language this means that for the benefit of relieving government administrative burden, they have decided to merge a social security contribution (for some of them) with an income tax. Not only is this a possible legal breach but will make it difficult to recover in the future, even moreso than at present.
The above are only some of the language gems found in the policy changes which the IMF expects us to adopt.
Next week I will be looking at some of the contradictions in the same document as to what could happen if we adopt these policy changes e.g. cut agricultural tariffs but complain about the decline of Jamaican exports or ask for further depreciation of the Jamaican dollar but fail to look at the empirical evidence of 'creeping depreciation' (Manley had his 'crawling peg devaluation' in the latter 1970s) of the Patterson regime over the last decade and failure to expand exports or control imports.
If you understand IMF jargon then the policy changes would prove interesting reading but if you do not, then get a translator because these changes are going to wreak havoc on the majority of the population, no matter how well-couched the language it uses.
