PROMINENT businessman Omar Azan says successive Jamaican governments have been artificially supporting the slide of the Jamaican dollar for years, and he is challenging the current Administration to wake up and try something different, as people are suffering.

The former president of the Jamaica Manufacturers’ Association and the founder and chief executive officer of Boss Furniture Company Limited, told the Jamaica Observer that the constant devaluation of the Jamaica dollar is wreaking havoc on the lives of Jamaicans and also the manufacturing sector.

“Government and our leaders, they need to look at it in a serious way and don’t let the IMF dictate to them what they are to do because some of their bright, MBA-degree and doctorate people, a lot of them have never run a business. They come straight out of school and they know the theories but they have never run a business to find out what it takes to run a business,” he said.

“We need to find a way to think outside of the box and even if we try something different and it fails, we can always try again. Just try something.”

He said it is time for Jamaican people to stop suffering, as “we have everything going for us”.

“We have the people, the beach, the sun, sand and sea. We are a blessed country but we need leaders who are going to lead us in the right direction.”

Azan said every time the dollar slides, businesses are affected and people are left with less money to spend.

“In the last six weeks there has been a vast downward trend and a major part of the contribution is the devaluation,” he said.

In the case of his company, he said because of the devaluation he has not achieved his budgeted profit in years. He said there are several instances when the dollar depreciated while he was in the process of delivering an order after agreeing to a particular price via contract, and he had to stand the losses.

“The only way is to price in US dollars, which the retailers will not accept because they won’t take the exchange risk. Or, you price way above the dollar and you become uncompetitive,” he said.

Another worrying issue facing the manufacturing sector, he said, is the high cost of electricity which, he said, is partly to be blamed on the slide of the dollar.

“We just can’t keep up with what is going on. It is going to be a never-ending devaluation at the rate at which we are going,” he said.

He argued that measures include fixing the rate or dollarising the economy, which Government could explore.

“For as long as I know, in Barbados, the dollar has been at 2 to 1. Their economy may be in trouble, but they are still surviving,” he said.