Jamaica is not an island

ID: INTERACTIVE DIALOGUE

David Mullings

Sunday, February 12, 2012

No, I did not hit my head in the last week. We all agree that Jamaica is an "island" based on the geographic definition of a land mass surrounded by water but not big enough to be a continent. However, Jamaica is not an island in the economic or political sense.

It is not an island in terms of influence or people either. Many of us know the phrase that no man is an island and understand the meaning to be that you cannot stand alone or be insular. Jamaica is not an island.

"Jamaica" is a brand, and we have seen proof of this many times. Recently I was in a Florida supermarket and saw a package for a flavour of fruit drink called "Jamaica" and I had to snap a photo. This month is Reggae Month, and Jamaica has clearly had a major influence on the world through beats, lyrics and dance related to our culture. A mere island would not have such an influence.

In the same way that we have influenced other cultures, we are and have been influenced by others. Sometimes it seems that we forget that Jamaica is in fact not an island when it comes to our economic situation. We are not insular and we depend on what happens globally, especially in the USA.

Jamaica imports far more than it exports — food, cars, machinery, oil and more. Our growth cannot be charted without factoring in much of what is happening in the world. Some other countries are fortunate to have their own sources of fuel to insulate them from oil prices or keep energy costs down. Others benefited from history to have their currencies seen as safe havens and so can run greater deficits than other countries. Jamaica has none of those advantages.

In some ways we are at the mercy of the global markets. If bauxite prices fall, we can do nothing about it. If oil prices go up, we have to pay them. If another country increases travel taxes on tourists coming to our country, we can only complain.

We have pursued development as if we were truly an island, insulated from these external factors. Instead of charting a development path that focused on energy efficiency, thus moderating our use of oil within the country, we embarked on plans that did nothing to educate the population about conservation, nor did we embark on an energy policy that anticipated oil prices being able to go up as more of the world developed even though we had an oil crisis in the 1970s from which Brazil took lessons.

We focused narrowly on industries to earn foreign exchange such as tourism as if our beaches would not be eroded due to more development and removal of mangroves, as if we could privatise all the beaches and shut locals out. Did anybody realise that we don't control the flow of tourists but are at the mercy of global trade?

A single new tax in another country could cut tourism arrivals in half and we would then have to struggle to find new markets. A recession in the limited markets from which we attract visitors could do the same. If the same energy and money that was put into tourism was put into some services or types of manufacturing, then a blow to one market would be more easily dealt with because we could export to other countries, have a wider cross-section of customers and more easily weather a downturn.

We would also have spent more time building up real differentiation. "Sun, sea and sand" can be had in many other places, and we have done little to differentiate on the culture side and have yet to properly address harassment.

Jamaica is not an island; it is a destination, and should be dealt with as such. There is more to the country than white sand beaches.

When it comes to finances for the Government, the approach has traditionally been focused on only the people on the island. Jamaica definitely is no island when it comes to the people. In the past, efforts to plug holes in the budget usually came from spending cuts and tax increases.

Countries like India, however, sought assistance from citizens outside the country via special bonds. Why has no Jamaican Government in recent memory put together a proposal for a bond and reached out to Jamaicans around the world as India has done numerous times?

As long as policies are conceived without considering the fact that Jamaica is not an island, but that instead the country is really subject to many external forces over which we have no control, then we will continue to fail at efforts to grow the economy and improve the country. A world where there is real competition for oil, natural gas, tourists, food and water is what we have, and we are not insulated from any of these competitive forces.

We must diversify for the sake of growth.

David Mullings was the first Future Leaders Representative for the USA on the Jamaican Diaspora Advisory Board. He can be found at facebook.com/InteractiveDialogue and Twitter.com/davidmullings

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Jamaica is not an island