PNP firm on IMF stance - Insists Jamaica's agreement must be revisited
Published:Tuesday | November 29, 2011 | 12:00 AM
Nagra Plunkett, Assignment Coordinator
WESTERN BUREAU:
Labelling Jamaica's current standby loan agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) as "suspended", People's National Party (PNP) spokesperson on finance, Dr Peter Phillips, is resolute that the arrangement will have to be revisited.
"The simple fact is that for more than one year, there has been no successful completion of any of the set performance tests, no meeting of the performance targets, (and) no announcement of a successful conclusion of the IMF tests," Phillips said yesterday during a press conference in Montego Bay, St James.
"That means that the current agreement is in abeyance. Call it what you will, but monies that would have been paid under the programme to Jamaica are not forthcoming."
Phillips' comments were in response to those made by IMF country representative, Dr Gene Leon, that the present terms of Jamaica's loan agreement are not up for renegotiation. The country's arrangement with the multilateral agency comes to an end in May 2012.
Leon, in his keynote address during the Jamaica Chamber of Commerce's quarterly luncheon in Hanover on Saturday, said that while there are shortfalls in the Government's efforts to improve the economy, the country must take stock and act collectively as a nation.
However, Phillips made it clear that he had no intention of getting into "a semantic discussion with the IMF representative or with anyone else".
He noted that the primary preoccupation of a PNP administration would not only be fiscal prudence, but more significantly, how to achieve growth, meet the obligations to creditors, and put the Jamaican people to work.
"So I don't want anyone anywhere, whether in the multilateral community, or whether in the local media fraternity, or whether in the local financial community, to get the Jamaican people hung up on semantics," Phillips concluded.
"It (the agreement) must, therefore, be subject to reconsideration, and ultimately, a new programme has to be put in place, and we remain open to having those discussions when we form the government of Jamaica, as we believe we will."