THE EDITOR, Sir:

I write with anguish when I hear it said, "We do not need the IMF," because I understand too well why we do need the IMF. I also understand too well that it is never a good idea to beg and bark at the same.

It is simple. Jamaica consumes more than it produces. It imports almost everything - tea, flour, rice and containerloads of useless trinkets with its precious foreign exchange. Have you looked at the shelves of some of these supermarkets?

Jamaica produces very little and is not particularly interested in production. Its few producers have, in large part, given up, frustrated by the lack of political support, burdensome taxation, high production costs, and so on.

HIGH CONSUMPTION

After a while, clearly, given this island's high consumption patterns and its love for overseas trinkets and trips, Jamaica will have no foreign exchange to purchase anything. We go to the International Monetary Fund because we need precious foreign exchange to support our self-destructive existence.

If Jamaicans do not seal an IMF deal, its exchange rate will run amok, inflation will be sky-high, and the ordinary Jamaican will not survive it. The IMF does not give the cure; it gives us a drug which will provide temporary relief until such time that we clean up our act and face our reality.

LISAMAE GORDON

Attorney-at-Law

lisamae@malcolmgordonlaw.com