THE Opposition yesterday expressed concerns about recent statements from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which it said do not accurately place Jamaica’s current economic situation into context.

In a release yesterday, Opposition spokesman on finance, planning, growth, and economic development Audley Shaw said that the IMF has failed to acknowledge major achievements of the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) Government over the past four years on which the current Administration should build.

Shaw listed the achievements as:

• A successful debt exchange, which led to significant savings on interest cost to the budget, and has led to sharply reduced interest rates in the mortgage and commercial banking system which, in turn, has resulted in a return to growth of 1.3 per cent for the last fiscal year;

• The successful divestment of lossmaking public sector entities, notably Air Jamaica and the Sugar Company of Jamaica which, combined, required billions of dollars in annual support to keep them afloat, and the sale of another entity, Clarendon Alumina Productions, being well on its way;

• The introduction of a fiscal responsibility framework, which includes greater transparency and control of public expenditure by legislation; and the critical commencement of work on tax reform, pension reform, public sector reform and public sector wage reform, as well as the start-up of the first phase of a new central treasury management system, and including the tabling of Green Papers in Parliament with parliamentary committees reviewing tax and pension reform.

Shaw said that the Opposition would not stay silent if the IMF seeks to make statements which cast doubt on the significant accomplishments of the previous Administration.

“The IMF should also acknowledge that the previous Administration had to grapple with a range of critical issues, including the global economic crisis which led to revenue loss; two tropical storms; a global food and oil price crisis; and a public sector that demanded wage increases which were contracted,” he said.

He stated that the settlement of the public sector wage increases, which contributed to the challenges of fiscal consolidation, has now paved the way for the IMF to declare that the current favourable political environment provides an opportunity to address the significant macroeconomic and rising vulnerabilities.

“Indeed, this current favourable political environment has been garnered in part due to the sacrificial decisions of the previous Administration, inclusive of wage settlements, which have now paved the way for acceptance of wage restraint by some groups in the public sector,” he said.

Shaw, at the same time, urged Finance Minister Dr Peter Phillips to “stop hiding from the reality of the critical game-changing decisions that have to be made in moving forward”, and should not comfort himself with statements from the IMF or any other entity.

“The minister will find out soon enough that, in the final analysis, it is the Government of Jamaica that must take ownership and act in the best interest of the people of Jamaica,” Shaw said.