Dawn Ritch, Contributor
OUR GOVERNMENT'S interest payments take up 47 per cent of total expenditure and 67 per cent of revenue. Bear Stearns reports, "We know of no other country with these ratios."
Other shocking news came when it was announced that, so far this year, there have been 270 fatalities from road accidents in Jamaica. This is a breathtaking figure for a small island, and must be an international record as well.
The highest interest rate payment ratios in the world, and probably the most road deaths.
And let us not forget the 700 people murdered. We are the third highest murder capital in the world, and we are not, and have never been, at war with anybody.
INCREASING PUBLIC DEBT
Something has to give and it cannot continue to be the Jamaican people. The Government of the country must begin to govern. They must take responsibility for the state of affairs that has laid siege to the country under their regime.
The public debt continues to climb. When this Government came to power in 1989 the total public debt stood at $35.4 billion.
Ten years later, the debt had risen astronomically to $301 billion. Today, the debt stands at $639.8 billion.
One day there will be an end to profligacy because the people and the system can no longer support it. Jamaica's current interest payment ratios indicate that time is either now or imminent.
At the last Budget, the Government's position was non-negotiable. Cuts in public expenditure were not on the table. Only more taxes. This is a dangerous position to take.
The most recent Bank of Jamaica balance sheet, September 24, indicates that the Government's credit balance stood at $5.7 billion. Readers must note that on the 23rd and 24th of this month, about $12 billion of Government of Jamaica securities will mature. Where are they going to get the money to pay out $12 billion, plus pay October's public sector salaries, when they only have $5 billion in the bank?
The facts are that $6.1 billion of Government of Jamaica Investment Debentures mature on the 23rd of this month. The next day another $5.1 billion matures, plus interest payments on these debts. Where is the money coming from to roll over some of this debt?
The situation does not get better. After that, $9.5 billion comes due in November for other securities. In December, it's a further $15.2 billion. Next year March, principal payments excluding interest is $11.5 billion.
These numbers do not include the securities that the Bank of Jamaica sold in March, April and May of this year, when they hiked interest rates to 36 per cent, 33 per cent, and 32 per cent. These securities will also be required to pay interest in March, April and May of next year.
This is all going to create excessive liquidity in the system, in the event that the funds are not re-absorbed. So what's in store for our currency?
DISASTER LOOMS
Disaster, unlike anything we've yet seen, looms large and ominous, unless the Government soon realises that they can't wish away the debt. Nor tax the problem away.
Public expenditure doesn't need to be frozen. It has to be cut. Waste and corruption must be abandoned as the modus operandi. I really don't know how much longer the Most Honourable will have the luxury of studying the problem.
The new taxes imposed are largely uncollectable in concept, and burdensome in the extreme. GCT receipts are falling short of budgeted targets. Therefore, consumption is not what they had hoped. How could it be? We're broke. The only people who don't seem to realise this are the PNP Government and their advisers.
It's a great life if you can get it, and they are not interested in economising or downsizing.
In the midst of all of this they have no solution for anything, and no one is responsible. The Minister of Information, Senator Burchell Whiteman, surveying the grave legal damages of $14 billion owed to the National Transport Co-operative, asserts the collective responsibility of the Cabinet.
What he really means is that no one of them is responsible. Nobody is responsible, certainly none of them, so everything can continue because it's not their fault.
No wonder Mr. Whiteman has begun to remind people of Comical Ali, the Iraqi press secretary. This worthy kept saying that the Iraqis weren't being bombed, even while the bombs were raining down upon their heads. He kept telling them that all is well, all is well.
FOOTNOTE
I would very much like to return to the subject of race, empire and culture. I thoroughly enjoy the debate, and hope that those debating will write something of substance to which I can respond.
