KINGSTON, Jamaica — Former minister of finance and planning, Dr Peter Phillips, says that the Opposition is open to discussions with the government on financing the budget, after the National Housing Trust’s (NHT) $11 billion per annum contribution ends next March.

“We are open to discussions, but they need to be discussions that are not born of simple political expediency on the part of the government,” Dr Phillips responded to a question on whether the Opposition would support the Government retaining the NHT’s annual contribution to the budget, which has added up to some $44 billion over four years.

However, he said that the opposition would only be interested in discussions that keep faith with the overall logic of the economic reform programme, on which Jamaica has embarked.

Dr Phillips was speaking at Wednesday’s press briefing at the headquarters of the People’s National Party (PNP) at Old Hope Road, following his 2016/17 budget presentation in the House of Representatives on Tuesday.

In February, 2013, Phillips announced fiscal measures that the government would pursue to effectively address the national debt crisis. Among the fiscal measures implemented was a requirement for the NHT to contribute to the budget approximately $11 billion a year, for the four-year period of the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) programme.

Then NHT chairman, Easton Douglas, said that the contribution was being made in the national interest, and was inextricably linked to the fundamentals of the economy.

Balford Henry