On The Corner > We Want Infrastructure, Opportunities, Say Maryland Residents

Infrastructural development focused on education and socialisation, coupled with greater job opportunities, are what residents of Maryland in east rural St Andrew are demanding from the Government.
The residents made their thoughts known in a Gleaner On The Corner forum with co-chairman of the Economic Programme Oversight Committee (EPOC), Keith Duncan, in their community last Thursday.
With Duncan willing to listen and share thoughts about the role of the committee that monitors the Government’s programme with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the residents were not shy, during and after the forum, as they bemoaned the lack of economic opportunities and the infrastructure needs of their community.

“We’re lacking a basic school, a clinic and a post office,” declared 46-year-old Cecil Robinson.
The self-employed resident added that emphasis on development should be shifted from urban areas in order to alleviate the burden being faced by those living in “deplorable” conditions in rural communities.
But 26-year-old lab technician Kemar Fender challenged his neighbour, as he argued that a development balance had to be struck, as to shift focus solely to rural communities could result in the collapse of corporate Jamaica.
“Our community centre needs development. However, there are opportunities in place for rural folks, but we have to be more organised as a community to be able to capitalise on them,” said Fender.
“Having achieved that organisational structure, I hope the economic plan has aspects that can maximise the strengths of my community, such as farming,” added Fender.
Elisha Bogle, 70, who was born and raised in Maryland, recounted when agriculture thrived and scores of persons raked in good incomes.
“These youngsters nowadays don’t want to farm. We don’t have anybody to cultivate, is just a few persons farming,” Bogle told The Gleaner.
Marvette Cain, a 35-year-old mother of three, underscored the need for a basic school as she pointed out that the closest was some distance away in Woodford.
Cain further charged that the lack of job opportunities is the primary cause of gambling and other “unproductive activities” in Jamaica.
“I’ve seen where persons have gotten a few weeks’ employment and they no longer have a mindset to sit on the corner and idle. Persons are motivated to work, but we need the job opportunities,” argued Cain.
At the end of the forum, Maryland residents gave Duncan a nine-out-of-10 rating for his presentation of complex economic matters that are usually discusssed in terms they believe are not designed for the man on the street.
[Source: The Gleaner]

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IMF Praises Jamaica in Performance Review

Finance and Public Service Minister, Hon. Audley Shaw (left), listens as Head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Staff Mission Team to Jamaica, Dr. Uma Ramakrishnan, addresses journalists during the 13th IMF quarterly review media briefing at the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) last year.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has given Jamaica high marks for its economic performance in its review of the country’s Stand-by Agreement (SBA), issued on Tuesday (April 18).
The IMF says programme implementation remains strong under the SBA.
“Sustained macroeconomic discipline and visible reforms have boosted stability and confidence. Positive real GDP has been recorded in seven consecutive quarters and Jamaica is projected to grow by two per cent in fiscal year 2017/18, bolstered by construction and tourism, among other factors,” the Fund notes.
“Inflation reached an all-time low in 2016 and investor confidence is at an all-time high, attracting foreign direct investments. The current account deficit has narrowed significantly, supporting accumulation in non-borrowed reserves,” the IMF adds.
The IMF further mentions that the primary balance over-performed the target by J$23 billion, with tax revenues being $22 billion above target. The Fund also draws attention to the fact that the
Net International Reserves (NIR) exceeded the target by over US$240 million at the end of December when inflation recorded only 1.7 per cent.
All but one of the quantitative performance criteria were met and the one that was not met represented delays in handling suppliers’ credits which, the Fund adds, have since been cleared.
The IMF praises Jamaica’s policy initiative of moving from direct to indirect taxation, mentioning that “the ongoing revenue-neutral rebalancing from direct to indirect taxes…will further expand the tax base and work incentives. The budget also provides for greater capital spending.”
The multilateral institution also has high praise for the Government’s “significantly higher budget allocation for social spending,” which it says will “insulate Jamaica’s poor and vulnerable from the impact of the rebalancing to indirect taxes.”
With regard to the financial sector, the Fund mentions that the banks’ capital adequacy ratio of 14.9 per cent was “well above the regulatory minimum” of 10 per cent. Mention is also made of the doubling of the credit going to the private sector since April last year.
The Executive Board says “decisive policy actions are required” to improve public sector resource allocation and efficiency. The Board expresses the view that reducing the Government’s wage bill and lowering pension costs are important to shifting Jamaica’s limited fiscal resources to productive spending.
The IMF, in its 74-page review, supports the recently announced policy decision to de-earmark the funds for public sector bodies and moving them to the Consolidated Fund.
This, it says, will improve transparency and efficiency in spending, “consistent with broader public financial management.”
The Washington-based institution says that preserving the social consensus for reform “will be critical” in sustaining the gains of macroeconomic stability.
[Source: Jamaica Information Service]

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April 2017: Update on 3-year IMF Precautionary Stand-by Arrangement (PSBA)

The EPOC met on April 11, 2017, and reviewed available results up to end-February 2017. Based on performance at end-February 2017: Jamaica is on target to meet monitored quantitative performance criteria and indicative targets under the new Precautionary Stand-By Arrangement (PSBA) with the Government of Jamaica (GOJ), which was approved by the Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on November 11, 2016.

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Feeling the inflation

For many households, the grocery list each month is constant. However, from time to time, unexpected price increases push our budgets beyond what we had planned. This is as a result of inflation.
Foreign exchange values, production costs, including gas and electricity, and transportation increases all add to rising prices for consumer goods.
Inflation is the change in the prices of goods and services for the island. To achieve this number, STATIN (the Statistical Institute of Jamaica) sends out workers on a monthly basis to markets, supermarkets, hardware stores and other businesses, to collect pricing data.
The data is then compared with figures from the previous months, looking for any change. The calculation is done via the percentage change in the Consumer Price Index (CPI); it is this percentage change which represents the inflation number for a particular month.
The inflation rate in Jamaica increased to 3.6 per cent in February of this year, following a 2.6 per cent rise in the previous month.
Under the current IMF agreement, in order for Jamaica to achieve its growth targets and families to be able to set and manage budgets, an environment of certainty has to be maintained. This certainty is in the stability of prices and containment of costs. The lower the rate of inflation, the better the level of certainty in the economy. Stability is best for planning for the future and great for growth.
EPOC will monitor the level of inflation and hold the government to account as it relates to any breach of the Jamaica programme.

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Holness praises Grenada’s fiscal discipline

Jamaica’s Prime Minister Andrew Holness has praised Grenada’s fiscal discipline as it implements a  homegrown structural adjustment programme with the support of the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Holness, addressing the convention of the ruling New National Party (NNP) on Sunday, said that reducing the debt to gross domestic product (GDP) ratio from 108 to 72 per cent in three years is a feat that has to be commended.
“From what I have read, and what has been reported, the fiscal discipline of your government has been exemplary.
“When we see that you are getting five per cent average growth – seven per cent on the high level – and this year it is reported that you will get 4.2 per cent, your economy is doing well and you should be proud,” Holness told thousands of NNP supporters.
The programme, which was backed by the IMF’s Extended Credit Facility (ECC), has just ended with the international lending agency, complementing the government on turning the economy around and recognizing growth of 3.9 per cent with a projection of 2.5 in 2017.
The Jamaican leader said it is never easy for any country to go through a structural reform of its economy but encouraged Grenada not to give up on those reforms.
“For our economies, small island developing states, to survive in this changing world, our economies have to be more  efficient, they have to be more robust, they have to be more diverse, they have to be more resilient, and they have to be growing and growing and growing.”
He said the economic growth is “not just for the big people, they have to grow for the little people as well because economic growth starts at the root and the benefit of economic growth is that people must get jobs.”
Prime Minister Dr Keith Mitchell agreed that the country’s current economic success did not come on a whim, calling the lowering of the debt to GDP ratio a miracle.
“The growth that we have, did not come about just so. The payment of unpaid claims did not come about just so. It was the sacrifices of a lot of people; and the leadership of the team of the New National Party – your cabinet that you gave us — sisters and brothers.”
“And therefore sisters and brothers to move from 108 per cent Debt to GDP ratio to 72 per cent was miraculous,” Mitchell told party supporters gathered at the St. Andrew’s Anglican Secondary School grounds.
The Grenadian leader, who has been in the political realm for more than 32 years, said the challenge is to create jobs and create hope for the young people.
“We cannot do everything possible but we can do a lot and all of us must join hands together to help provide more hope to the young people of our country,” Mitchell said, while calling on local entrepreneurs to increase their levels of investment in the country.
“We are proud of what we are doing in our country but we wouldn’t stop with this; the march is on.”
Mitchell said the vision for the future is to “promote an economic policy that will employ and empower all our people, by expanding opportunities to all sectors of our society”.
At the convention, which was attended by other regional politicians, including Godwin Friday, political leader of the main opposition New Democratic Party of St Vincent and the Grenadines and the deputy political leader of the ruling Team Unity of St Kitts and Nevis Jonel Powell, the NNP voted unanimously to retain its executive.
Mitchell remains political leader with his senior government minister, Gregory Bowen, as chairman. Elvin Nimrod has been re-elected as deputy political leader.
[Source: The Jamaica Observer]

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