EDITORIAL - Government must come fulsome and clean

Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller and her ministers are, we have been told, today entering a two-day huddle over what the de facto information minister, Sandrea Falconer, called the Government's "growth agenda".

First, we offer the Cabinet the same advice the last time they went on one of these seasonal retreats: don't worry with the deadline. And don't emerge until you have made really sensible decisions.

That, of course, takes us to a larger matter. Talking about the growth agenda suggests that the Government has completed other elements of its economic strategy, so now it can turn to something else.

But to borrow Dr Omar Davies' phrase, from the "optics" being reflected by the Government, as well as other available evidence, this is not the case. The sense is that the administration is in a bit of a muddle.

Two things, specifically, cause this newspaper grave concern, which, if true, and if our and other people's fears are founded, would call into the question the competence of the technical staff of the finance ministry. Further, it would put in doubt their ability to oversee the economic programme that is supposed to underpin the economic support agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

The first of these red flags is that while it was announced that Jamaica had reached an agreement with the IMF staff, it is still to be approved by the Fund's executive directors. There must now be serious questions whether this can happen within the March timetable that was set by Finance Minister Peter Phillips for concluding negotiations with the IMF and having in hand its imprimatur to unlock funds from other multilateral institutions.

Provide support

Dr Phillips blames the delay on what he leadenly called "contingent discussions" between Jamaica, the IMF, the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank on the financing they will provide Jamaica to support the US$750 million the IMF is supposed to lend Jamaica. That, however, reminds us of the quip about being able (or, in this case, unable) to walk in a straight line and chew gum at the same time.

The interconnectedness of such discussions and agreements should not have been unfamiliar to Jamaican officials. So, we are surprised that one set of talks apparently had to be completed before the other is commenced. They are expected to happen in tandem and the conclusions/outcomes almost contemporaneous.

In the circumstance, Dr Phillips and the Government would forgive people who suspect there to be more to the delay, including, perhaps, that finance ministry technocrats miscalculated the financial needs of the Government, despite the recently concluded National Debt Exchange (NDX). In which case, the Government could well be in a scramble, including leaning on banks to close the gap.

The NDX is really the rescheduling of J$860 billion of domestic debt by lowering interests and lengthening maturities. It is supposed to save the Government J$17 billion a year, or J$119 billion over seven years, and contribute to the reduction of the debt-to-GDP ratio from 140 per cent to 95 per cent.

If, indeed, a miscalculation was made on something as fundamental as the Government's financing needs, there is something seriously amiss in the administration. By the end of the retreat, the Cabinet must have clear answers. They must come clean.

The opinions on this page, except for the above, do not necessarily reflect the views of The Gleaner. To respond to a Gleaner editorial, email us: editor@gleanerjm.com or fax: 922-6223. Responses should be no longer than 400 words. Not all responses will be published.