Why the surprise?
published: Monday | February 9, 2004
THE EDITOR, Sir:
THE MINISTRY of Finance has expressed surprise at the recent downgrade of Jamaica's debt by Standard & Poors. Even a cursory glance at Jamaica's sovereign debt should convince the least discerning among us that such an appraisal was inevitable. The fact is that the national debt has grown to almost 700 billion dollars and there is no indication of any real strategy from the government to deal resolutely with this growing menace. If anything, the government is borrowing more money locally and on the international capital markets. They expect to be applauded by organisations like Standard and Poors whenever they are successful in getting loans.
Standard and Poors and other financial groups like these have a reputation to protect. They have customers throughout the world that depend on their firm and objective analysis of trends in different world markets that could be a threat to the health of investors. They have determined that Jamaica's debt situation is unsustainable in the medium and long term; that the country's growing fiscal deficit is a gathering threat to the overall health of the economy. Financial analysts in Jamaica have been saying this for some time. Our leaders only seem to listen when a foreign, highly accented voice is heard.
