THE current economic situation that requires frequent injections of foreign credit or local credit is a constant reminder that unless we are clear on our future goals, we will always be running in the same spot just to avoid falling behind. This is because when the current administration made that decisive decision to break with the IMF and go it alone, it could have imagined that its economic tenure would still be tied up with IMF approval in some form or the other.
Why I say this is that it is obvious that without some amount of IMF approval, the Finance Minister, Dr. Omar Davies, is going to find it difficult to continue accessing private capital in foreign markets at favourable interest rates we can afford. It may not be the IMF Stand-by type agreement or Extended Fund facility, that we have used in the past, but it is obvious that creditors who matter (that is, largely those in Western capitalist countries) pay close attention to the IMF report on a country. This is despite the major mistakes that were made by the IMF in the past with policy choices prescribed for some developing countries and, I daresay, with Jamaica.
We have found ourselves in an IMF quagmire (bog) where we are better off getting national consensus on our future priorities, rather than take the IMF path and have the government find a consensus with the IMF that meets international approval but significant criticism at home, making such agreements unworkable. If you believe that I am mistaken then look at the experiences of the Dominican Republic, Argentina and Ecuador, who all signed agreements with the IMF but were forced to backtrack in the face of violent and deadly street protests.
It is sad when a government cannot take tough economic decisions that will safeguard the future of the country, but even sadder when it throws up its hands and then negotiates an IMF agreement, knowing that it is merely living on borrowed time (if it operates in a situation where democratic elections will spell its end).
I don't know if we are at that point of finding ourselves in that IMF quagmire, but it is urgent that priority targets be spelt out and the populace be educated around the desirability of reaching these targets, or we soon won't be able to make those choices for ourselves.
