Dear Editor,
With the Jamaican currency now reaching a new low and trading over the $100 mark to US $1, one has to question the thinking behined haveing an International Monetary Fund (IMF) agreement.
From my point of view, growth is impossible with a sliding dollar. A major disadvantage of depreciation in the value of the Jamaican dollar is that it will increase the burden of servicing and repaying the foreign debt of the Jamaican Government as well as those companies that have US-dollar denominated debt.
Jamaica's level of public debt is one of the highest in the world, therefore, we can't afford any worsening of our state of affairs.
One should also not forget that the very high debt service places a huge burden on the budget, leaving very little room for the Government to support, for example, infrastructure or social objectives.
I think the first step in reducing our heavy dependence on monetary agencies is self-sufficiency. Self-sufficient programmes, such as renewable energy sources and eat what we grow projects, must get commitment and pride of place in our talks. They are placed on the back burner and the alternatives being chased by the Government are putting us in a worse financial bind.
Ricardo Cole
insightbycole@gmail.com
Sliding dollar, sliding future
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With the Jamaican currency now reaching a new low and trading over the $100 mark to US $1, one has to question the thinking behined haveing an International Monetary Fund (IMF) agreement.
From my point of view, growth is impossible with a sliding dollar. A major disadvantage of depreciation in the value of the Jamaican dollar is that it will increase the burden of servicing and repaying the foreign debt of the Jamaican Government as well as those companies that have US-dollar denominated debt.
Jamaica's level of public debt is one of the highest in the world, therefore, we can't afford any worsening of our state of affairs.
One should also not forget that the very high debt service places a huge burden on the budget, leaving very little room for the Government to support, for example, infrastructure or social objectives.
I think the first step in reducing our heavy dependence on monetary agencies is self-sufficiency. Self-sufficient programmes, such as renewable energy sources and eat what we grow projects, must get commitment and pride of place in our talks. They are placed on the back burner and the alternatives being chased by the Government are putting us in a worse financial bind.
Ricardo Cole
insightbycole@gmail.com
Sliding dollar, sliding future
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