The Chief Executive Officer of Boss Furniture, Omar Azan, is defending the lobbying efforts of the Jamaica Manufacturers Association, JMA.
Mr. Azan was president of the organization between 2007 and 2011.
His comments come in response to a scathing article in the Sunday Gleaner by Economist and University Lecturer, Dr. Damien King.
Dr. King, who is the head of the Department of Economics at the University of the West Indies Mona campus, went to town on the JMA.
He’s criticizing them for lobbying for tax exemptions and incentives for manufacturers, at the expense of other producers such as farmers and those in the service industries like tourism.
In his article, Dr. King writes that other businesses must pay for the manufacturers’ privileges.
He says every tax exemption for manufacturers means everybody else’s taxes have to be higher to achieve budget targets.
But Mr. Azan is rubbishing those arguments.
Mr. Azan says the lobbying efforts of the JMA redound to the benefit of all members of the Jamaican society.
The latest push by the JMA, under the leadership of Brian Pengelley, is for the establishment of a special ‘members only’ foreign exchange window at the Bank of Jamaica.
Dr. King believes it’s unfair for manufacturers to get what he calls privileged access to scarce supplies of foreign exchange.
But Mr. Azan argues that it’s necessary.
And Mr. Azan has lashed Dr. King for his views, likening the veteran university lecturer to a ‘bright fool’.
The former JMA President is also questioning Dr. King’s capacity to remain as a member of the board of directors for one of the country’s leading manufacturing companies, Red Stripe.
Omar Azan, speaking on Nationwide This Morning.
