LEVY

The chairman of the Sugar Company of Jamaica (SCJ) is forecasting a profit at the end of the next sugar crop now that the Government has decided to absorb the multibillion-dollar debt of the embattled company.

Speaking with The Gleaner, Robert Levy said: "Without the debt, we feel that by the end of the next sugar crop - with all that has happened - the present projection is that we could show a profit position."

Well informed

Mr. Levy announced last week that the Minister of Finance, Dr. Omar Davies, had informed him of his intention to take over the debt of the SCJ, which is estimated at over $2 billion.

However, the SCJ chairman pointed out that "it is going to take quite a bit of finalisation and actual implementation (but), I definitely hope that by the next sugar crop certainly the majority of the debt situation would be implemented."

For many years the SCJ, which comprises five sugar factories, has been submerged in debt. This, while sugar production has been continuously declining. In the last sugar crop, the country produced a disappointing 147,000 tonnes of sugar, barely enough to satisfy export commitments.