Dear Editor,
Dr Peter Phillips and Portia Simpson Miller seem to take pleasure in telling us that it is the four years of Jamaica Labour Party administration which cause us to be in this bad state. Does the facts support them?
In 1989 the PNP assumed office with the exchange rate at $5.50 to US$1. They left office in 2007, after eighteen and a half years with the Jamaican dollar devalued to $70 to $US1.
This is what wiped out the productive sector, all our factories disappeared because most of our raw materials are imported. So with devaluation all the inputs cost more, therefore local manufacturers cannot produce at competitive prices.
The People's National Party returned to office in 2012 and devaluation of the Jamaican dollar resumed. In less than three years the dollar has lost some 25 per cent of its 2012 value. I remember the days when Edward Seaga would warn the PNP that they were putting the country on collision course with bankruptcy. They called him a prophet of doom.
When one take into account the fact that the PNP has occupied office for 28 of the 41 years since 1972 -- the period during which the deterioration took place. They need to blame themselves. It reflects adversely on their own credibility.
A James
alvalj@cwjamaica.com
Disastrous J$ decline under PNP
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Dr Peter Phillips and Portia Simpson Miller seem to take pleasure in telling us that it is the four years of Jamaica Labour Party administration which cause us to be in this bad state. Does the facts support them?
In 1989 the PNP assumed office with the exchange rate at $5.50 to US$1. They left office in 2007, after eighteen and a half years with the Jamaican dollar devalued to $70 to $US1.
This is what wiped out the productive sector, all our factories disappeared because most of our raw materials are imported. So with devaluation all the inputs cost more, therefore local manufacturers cannot produce at competitive prices.
The People's National Party returned to office in 2012 and devaluation of the Jamaican dollar resumed. In less than three years the dollar has lost some 25 per cent of its 2012 value. I remember the days when Edward Seaga would warn the PNP that they were putting the country on collision course with bankruptcy. They called him a prophet of doom.
When one take into account the fact that the PNP has occupied office for 28 of the 41 years since 1972 -- the period during which the deterioration took place. They need to blame themselves. It reflects adversely on their own credibility.
A James
alvalj@cwjamaica.com
Disastrous J$ decline under PNP
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