Economic fruits ready, says Golding

Prime Minister Bruce Golding says the economic measures his Government has put in place are now bearing fruit and are set to put the country on a sound economic pathway.

Delivering a lecture at the prestigious Brookings Institute in Washington, DC, yesterday, Golding pointed out that while the country was experiencing economic growth in some areas, there is still need for more to be done in order to reap even greater success.

The prime minister told the more than 200 participants that some of the measures put in place to help realise this greater economic success included the introduction of the Jamaica Debt Exchange, efforts to reduce crime, divesting Air Jamaica and the island's sugar factories, along with the development of stringent economic programmes with support from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank.

Golding disclosed that his Government had instituted significant institutional reforms to create fiscal sustainability. This, he said, would be achieved through legislation that would put serious restrictions on the nation's deficit and accumulation of debt and subject those issues to significant parliamentary oversight.

high-level luncheon

Golding, who arrived in Washington on Sunday, has so far held bilateral talks with US Secretary of State, Hillary Rodham Clinton; president of the World Bank, Robert Zoellick; deputy managing director of the IMF, Naoyuki Shinonara, and had an investment luncheon with high-level US-based investors.

He will meet with the president of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), Luis Moreno, and officially launch the IDB Caribbean American Art Exhibition, where some six Jamaican artists are participating.