Jamaica is starting to live within its means.
That’s the observation of the IMF’s Resident Representative to Jamaica, Bert Van Selm.
His comments follow praise for Jamaica’s execution of the Extended Fund Facility, by the Fund’s Executive Director Christine Lagarde and her Deputy, Min Zhu.
Mr. Van Selm says he hopes that by the end of the programme, the people of Jamaica will notice the difference in their pockets.
Bert Van Selm, like other IMF officials, is toeing the multilateral’s line: stick to the programme, meet your targets, and reap the benefits later.
He’s rejected calls for some of those targets, particularly the 7.5% primary surplus, to be revised downward.
He says that target plays an important role in Jamaica’s economic growth, which was recorded at 1.8% for the April to June quarter.
And although that’s not high by international standards, it’s high for Jamaica, coming off years of weak and negative growth.
Mr. Van Selm says the improvements have averted an economic crisis for Jamaica.
The IMF rep says Jamaica has achieved these targets largely on its own, which is remarkable compared to most of the other countries with which the IMF works.
Still, there’ve been criticisms that the programme has focused too much on meeting the IMF’s targets, at the expense of stimulating the local economy and creating more hardship for the people.
Mr. Van Selm says if Jamaica sticks to the programme, he expects the man-on-the-ground to feel a difference in his pocket by 2016.
Meanwhile, Mr. Van Selm says the Jamaican dollar is almost at a point where it can be sustainable.
The dollar has lost 15% of its value relative to the US dollar, since the start of the Extended Fund Facility in May last year.
At the start of business today, it took $113.75, to buy USD$1.
Mr. Van Selm says the the rapid depreciation of the past two years can finally slow down.
Bert Van Selm, the IMF’s Resident Representative to Jamaica.
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