Government Senator Kavan Gayle says that the key to the Government’s debt management efforts will be how its workers are treated in the process.

Speaking in the debate on the Bill in the Senate last week, Senator Gayle, who also heads the Bustamante Industrial Trade Union (BITU), noted that various attempts at debt management in the past had failed because of the failure to recognise that the workers in the sector play a critical role in the success of any such strategy.

“Jamaica has made various attempts to reform the public sector since Independence. These attempts have ranged from small-scale efforts to major attempts to overhaul public administration in Jamaica. But the environment in which public servants operate is not static and changes over time,” he said.

“The public sector functions as a critical component of the State; giving policy advice to ministers, developing and implementing administrative practices and procedures, and managing government programmes and services, and any successful attempt at public sector transformation cannot only be about reducing size and wage freeze,” he said.

“Business as usual is not sustainable. Our public sector must become focused on delivering excellent service in a cost-efficient manner,” he added.

Gayle said that as the public sector continues to undertake that critical role in stimulating economic activity and promoting development, in a wide spectrum of activities there needs to be prudence and accountability in its management.

He said that, while there is the demand for public sector workers and their agencies to perform in a particular manner, there must be consideration about how these workers and agencies are treated.

The Government must continue to implement the requisite reforms to facilitate sustainable economic growth a job creation.

“We want to see a continuous upgrade of Jamaica’s credit ratings by the major international rating agencies, and we want to continue to see increases in business and consumer confidence and improvements in Jamaica’s ranking in the World Bank Doing Business Index,” he stated.

“These are positive indicators of confidence in Jamaica’s economy, but the Government must continue to provide a stable environment that will allow its people to use their talents to create wealth and sustain these improvements,” he said.

The Public Debt Management Amendment Bill was passed by the Senate with no amendments.

Minister of Finance and the Public Service Audley Shaw, who piloted the Bill through the House of Representatives in May, said then that the amendments were being made to make certain provisions more consistent with international and local standards.

Shaw said it has become necessary to effect changes to the Act in order to improve operational efficiency and effectiveness of debt management. He also pointed out that while the current Public Debt Management Act provides a framework for the overall management of the public debt, it does not address the operational aspects of debt management.

“The proposed amendments will, therefore, seek to be more detailed, specific, and more flexible, while still remaining consistent with the Act, thereby conferring better outcomes to the provisions of the Act,” he added.

The Bill empowers the minister of finance to appoint the Bank of Jamaica to act as the fiscal agent for the Government, in accordance with a signed fiscal agent agreement. However, while providing the framework for the overall management of the public debt, it does not make provision for operational bodies with responsibility for particular aspects of the management of the public debt.

It establishes a Debt Management Branch charged with the management of the public debt portfolio, including government loan guarantees and public debt transactions and the development, implementation, monitoring, and review of the Medium Term Public Debt Management Strategy.

It also makes provision for the four operating sections of the Debt Management Branch — the Portfolio Management Office, the Debt Strategy and Analysis Office, the Debt Operations Office, and the Compliance Office – and specifies the responsibilities of each operating section.

In addition, the opportunity was taken to widen and refine the functions of the Public Debt Management Committee and the Public Debt Financing Committee.