A cause for grave concern
published: Sunday | May 25, 2003
THE EDITOR, Sir:
THE COMMITMENT purportedly given by Government recently that there are no plans to reintroduce exchange controls has awakened the memory of a regimen regarding foreign exchange, which existed in the '70s. Certainly, the trusting souls amongst us accepted the dismantling of those regulations with a sigh of relief and took to heart the assurances that never again would Jamaicans be made to suffer from such a system.
The recent commitment and The Gleaner editorial of May 20 seemed to indicate that the slate was never wiped clean, as we were led to believe, and that there still remain the roots of exchange controls on the statute books.
History has taught us never to put our trust in princes and the case by which things can be effected by a single parliamentary majority, must, in this instance, give us cause for very grave concern.
Many Jamaicans, myself included, had always been strong in affirming to our associates and returning residents, that the spectre of exchange controls had gone with the wind, and was no longer a problem! What are we to believe now? The more things change, the more they remain the same!
