KINGSTON, Jamaica, CMC:
THE MERGER between the National Investment Bank of Jamaica (NIBJ) and the Development Bank of Jamaica (DBJ) announced last year has still not taken place, financial analysts have said.
Recommendations on how the merger should be carried out have already been presented to Finance Minister Dr. Omar Davies, but there has been no official word concerning when the consolidation will take place.
During his budget presentation earlier last April, Dr. Davies said that the Government was considering plans to merge the NIBJ and the DBJ as part of efforts to improve efficiency within the public sector.
REVIEW
University of the West Indies lecturer Dr. Alvin Wint subsequently conducted a review of their operations and that recommendations had been sent to the Finance Minister, who was supposed to have held discussions with Prime Minister P.J. Patterson on the merger.
Dr. Davies had told reporters that if the consultant's recommendations were accepted, the merger would be similar to what pertained several years ago when the then Agricultural Credit Bank was merged with the National Development Bank to form the DBJ.
Professor Wint was responsible for the study leading to the merger of the Agricultural Credit Bank (ACB) and the National Development Bank (NDB) in April 2000. These two entities which formerly employed 120 people were merged to form the DBJ which had its staff reduced to 70.
But last April, Vincent Morrison, Island Supervisor of the National Workers Union, predicted that 40 persons employed at the National Investment Bank of Jamaica (NIBJ) would lose their jobs as a result of the merger. In a letter to the Finance Minister, Mr. Morrison said: 'We do not believe that such a merger is compatible and even more so, we know that over 40 quality jobs will disappear.'
Analysts said that with the financial year now coming to a close and no announcement coming from the Government on the issue, it appears that the merger would probably take place in the next financial year.
