Let’s face it, we cannot continue to use the Jamaican dollar in its weak and constantly devaluing state and experience any form of progress whatsoever. Jamaica is a developing nation which depends heavily on imports and the use of foreign exchange. Thus, it is clear that the centre of our economic dilemma is the constant loss of purchasing power by the Jamaican dollar.

We do not possess the capital, resources, labour and know-how to establish all the necessary industries to obliterate the need for trade and foreign exchange. Therefore, the clear path to our economic development would be to focus on increasing the spending power of the Jamaican dollar.

Demand payment for exports in Jamaican dollars

This method of increasing the value of the dollar consists of tying the Jamaican dollar to all Jamaican exports, thereby requiring other nations to pay for Jamaican goods in Jamaican dollars. This will increase the international demand for the Jamaican dollar in relation to other international currencies and thereby increasing its exchange rate. This will also give the Bank of Jamaica the freedom to either steady or decrease the money supply, which will help to stem inflation.

In order to conveniently induce our trading partners into accepting our new economic model, the transaction will be conveniently done virtually using virtual Jamaican currency. This ingenious mechanism entails using the foreign exchange we receive for the payment of exported goods to virtually buy Jamaican dollars, which will then be accepted as payment for the goods. The act of using the foreign exchange to buy the Jamaican currency signifies an increase in the international demand for Jamaican dollars, and therefore an increase in its value and exchange rate. In reality, we are simply buying the Jamaican dollar from ourselves using the foreign exchange we acquired from trade, and the mere transaction will amount to an increase in the demand for the Jamaican dollar. Thus, we would also retain the foreign exchange while benefiting from the arbitrary monetary transaction. Therefore we would have the added benefit of increasing the value of our currency with every export transaction.

This economic method is rightfully named the System of Monetary Encouragement (SME.) and is designed to rescue the Jamaican people from the exploitation and lack of any possible progress caused by having a weak dollar.

Recently the Chinese set up currency hubs in The Bahamas to offer convenient foreign exchange services. We can adopt this method and establish virtual currency hubs with all of our predominant trading partners so as to conveniently introduce the new trade policy.

Attracting investment by using the Olympics

The Olympic Games, which have brought Jamaica so much national pride and global popularity, are a month away. And, as usual, Jamaicans are expected to dominate the track events. The supremacy we express over superpowers like America in such a global sporting arena should help to improve our economic circumstance. The country should prepare to benefit from the Games by offering attractive corporate incentives to investors who become memorised by Jamaica at the height of our global popularity.

During this time, Jamaica has the ability to capture temporary export markets and therefore increase productivity and the value of the Jamaican dollar by extension. The Olympic Games should be skilfully used as a tool of economic progress to inspire confidence in the Jamaican dollar and help to facilitate the new SME.

Advise the IMF to revise its devaluation policy

Since the 1970s, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has been influencing Jamaica’s economic and fiscal policies through its structural adjustment programmes and its shady staff-monitored programmes which influence Jamaica’s policies even when not receiving IMF money.

The IMF has advocated the devaluation of our currency on multiple occasions, which they justify by claiming that it helps to increase our exports and diminish our imports. If the IMF wanted us to expand our exports, which would mean expanding local industries, then we would no doubt need the currency strength to import the increased oil demand, the necessary equipment, and to have a good exchange rate to be able to pay overseas advisors to assist us in expanding our industries.

There is no way that crippling an entire nation economically by making foreign currency more expensive would make them able to export more. This faulty logic is synonymous to saying that making it more difficult for students to go on the Internet would equate to them reading more books.

The IMF admitted recently that its “neoliberal” approach has failed to deliver the results the institution promised. Instead of assisting indebted nations, the IMF has, in effect, made debt slaves of entire populations through their currency devaluation and the budgetary stifling of the social services of the Government. Whether the result was a policy objective or mismanagement by some of the best minds in finance, we have not seen any significant economic progress at the hands of the IMF, only increased debt.

Therefore, we seek to have our currency’s value reinstated. If this is not possible, then we wish to be compensated through incentives and long-term loans with (fixed) low interest rates. The documentary

Life and Debt by Stephanie Black exposes the IMF’s role in our current economic crisis.

Dump the dollar

If none of the above methods are able to revive our dying currency, then it is time we consider dumping the Jamaican dollar in favour of another currency. We simply cannot continue to use a currency which is unable to store the wealth of the Jamaican people. The gradual devaluation of the Jamaican dollar is literally robbing the wealth of all the holders of money in a subtle and deceptive form.

Jamaicans need to consider storing their wealth in other currencies such as the United States dollar (US$), the Cayman Islands dollar or the British Pound. Jamaican $100 may be able to buy a box drink today in our economy, but by next month the box drink will be $110, and a $100 bill would be unable to purchase the box drink it previously could.

Since the US$ rises in value in relation to the Jamaican dollar as time goes by, almost at the same rate of our inflation, a US$1 note would increase in value in relation to the box drink. Thus, as the box drink gets more expensive, so does the US$1, which presumably can buy the same things it could a month ago.

So, saving your money in US$ would mean it never gets devalued every month like the Jamaican dollar does and you wouldn’t literally be robbed of wealth, like what happens to the users of Jamaican dollars every single day. Thus, in order to give the Jamaican people a currency which can store wealth, we may have to consider gradually phasing out the Jamaican dollar for another currency, which we would gradually accept into daily use within our economy.

Another method could be to establish a regional currency among Caribbean nations (Cariba) and use all the region’s exports — especially oil — to give the new currency strength in relation to the other global currencies. If we unite our economic productivity to breathe value into a regional currency, then we all would enjoy a level of economic strength that we can now only imagine. This currency could encompass the productivity and fiscal responsibility of nations like the Cayman Islands, The Bahamas and other Caribbean nations with strong currencies to create possibly the world’s best trading currency.

The Jamaican Government’s methods are too “vanilla”, too plain, and lack any level of individuality and creativity to get us out of this unique real-world crisis. This is typical of desk-ridden bureaucrats who lack any real-world application, and can only go by the book. Unfortunately, there is no book on how to solve Jamaica’s crisis, and thus the Government needs to consider unorthodox methods because the lives of Jamaicans only get worse every day.

Toraino Beckford, LLB, hails from Savanna-la-Mar, Westmoreland. Send comments to the Observer or to meinemailsreside@gmail.com.