Dr Omar Davies, when he served as finance minister, used to be very good at lecturing the Opposition against hyperbole in diagnosing problems in Jamaica's financial markets. For, as Dr Davies used to point out with eminent good sense, markets turn as much on confidence as the underlying fundamentals of value - as is being so clearly demonstrated by the liquidity crisis that is undermining America's banks.
Now that he resides on the opposite side of the House of Representatives, it is a lesson which we hope Dr Davies is reminding himself of, and sharing with his boss, the leader of the People's National Party, Mrs Portia Simpson Miller.
Worrying about the United States
Jamaicans, like people around the world, are justifiably worried about events in the United States. For, as is so painfully obvious, it is unreasonable in this globalised world to expect the financial contagion to stay within the borders of the United States of America.
The crisis on Wall Street has not only shattered iconic US institutions but has brought down European banks and threatened others in Asia. In Jamaica, while at first blush, the contagion appears not to be debilitating, it is clear that Jamaican institutions will not fully escape exposure.
In any event, the deeper problem for an economy like ours is not the immediate fallout in the financial markets and the concomitant tightening of credit. For, as the experts have said, in the short term, Jamaica can replace sovereign borrowing from abroad by tapping the local financial market. Or, if things become really tight, the Government could resort to the central bank reserves to meet external obligations.
The greater issue is the longer-term implications for growth and development. The United States is the market for Jamaica's biggest export business: tourism. Upwards of 70 per cent of the visitors who come to the island annually originate in the USA.
Largest market
Not only is America the largest market for Jamaica's visible exports, it also provides the largest chunk of the $2 billion a year that Jamaicans who live abroad send home. If people feel less wealthy or actually lose their jobs, they are less likely to take foreign holidays and have less cash to remit to family and friends abroad.
In this atmosphere of crisis, it is not particularly difficult for loose and irresponsible statements to further weaken confidence and become self-fulfilling prophecy. It is in this context, we note Mrs Simpson Miller's complaint this week that the Government is not doing and saying enough "to allay our fears"; and Dr Davies' declared intention to lay out the state of the crisis, without doing the Government's job.
Mrs Simpson Miller believes that both Finance Minister Shaw and Prime Minister Golding are not painting a bleak enough picture of Jamaica's circumstances; she is not hearing a message of "brace yourselves".
Mr Shaw and Mr Golding, as Dr Davies would be aware, have to strike the right tone, one that does not indicate overconfidence or undermines confidence. So, too, must the Opposition. To do otherwise is in no one's interest.
We suggest that the Government's economic team fully brief the Opposition on the relevant facts and that this matter be moved from the purview of political contentiousness. The times demand leadership.
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