Patterson: There is good chance that we will return to single digit inflation this year.
PRIME MINISTER P.J. Patterson said last night that Jamaica's economy was beginning to show improvements in every area.
In a broadcast to the nation, the Prime Minister said there had been a US$435 million reduction in the current account deficit of the balance of payments for the period April 2003 to February 2004.
Exports were up by US$95 million; imports were down by about US$120 million and services increased by US$150 million, mostly due to tourism.
"We are witnessing a period when our economic programme is beginning to show the type of results we have worked so hard to achieve," he said.
SINGLE DIGIT INFLATION
For the first two months of the current financial year, the fiscal deficit was lower than the amount that had been programmed. In May, the inflation for this year was three per cent, he said, which means that there was "a good chance that we will return to single digit inflation this year."
The current administration managed to keep inflation below the 10 per cent mark for almost some six years, but at the end of the last calendar year, inflation spiralled to more than 13 per cent.
On the recent visit to the island by a group of officials from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Mr. Patterson said, "Their report is one of the best we have ever received from them. It stated that our goals are 'ambitious but achievable'."
He said that tourism recorded a positive performance with stopover arrivals increasing by 9.5 per cent for the first half of the year while preliminary figures show that in the first three weeks of June, arrivals increased by 13.8 per cent over the same period last year and 15.6 per cent over 2000.
On crime, the Prime Minister said it was encouraging that the security forces have managed to capture some of the island's alleged drug lords, but noted that the efforts should continue in order to disband criminal gangs.
He said that closer collaboration with international partners and the introduction of modern technologies would result in more arrests.
According to the Prime Minister, Cabinet has instructed that work be done to establish a specific initiative to restore social order where there is squatting, breakdown of environmental laws, illegal sand-mining and transport violations.
CRIMINAL ELEMENTS
"The criminal element is not likely to surrender and suddenly turn to law-abiding ways. But they cannot be allowed to escape the reach of those who must enforce the law, to threaten witnesses or to unleash a reign of terror on the rest of us," he said.
In the meantime, Mr. Patterson said the Government has been preparing for the current hurricane season, which began on June 1.
He said that Cabinet has approved a budget of $134 million to undertake immediate comprehensive drainage work in 'carefully selected' flood-prone areas as preventative measures to reduce the effects of possible flooding.
