Dear Editor,

Your editorial of April 13 titled ‘Dr Phillips is right on target’ was on point. It came at an opportune moment.

Dr Peter Phillips, Audley Shaw, and Dr Nigel Clarke ought to be commended for their debt reduction policy. I don’t think that Dr Phillips was understood by his party during its 2012 to 2016 term. He is more so out of tune with his party now.

He believed he would have led his party to a resounding victory in 2016. Not so! Much of the Jamaican population is not financially literate and they want benefits now. We don’t care what comes after. We don’t believe in delayed gratification. The story of Joseph in Egypt (Genesis 41:46-57) is of special significance to us at this juncture.

The Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) promised prosperity in 2020 and a large percentage of the electorate felt that this would have been immediate or at least over a two-year span. This was definitely not possible. Like the editors of this newspaper, I believe that if political parties “consistently think nation over party, Jamaica will be much better off”.

Erskine Sandiford’s Democratic Labour Party (DLP) lost the general election of 1994 to Owen Arthur’s BLP largely because of the austerity policies that he pursued. He knew that he would quite likely have lost, but the nation had to go through a period of austerity. The Barbados Labour Party (BLP) came to power and pursued a similar economic policy. Look at Barbados today!

It is good that Dr Phillips reiterated the importance of debt reduction in an interview with journalist Cliff Hughes on April 11. This is not rocket science. It’s the same thing in a family. We want to pay off our debt in the shortest possible time, but this does not prevent us from giving financial assistance to members of the extended family. However, we cannot help at all times or provide the requested amounts.

One of my greatest fears is that deviation from this policy could lead to further decline of the Jamaican dollar. This wouldn’t help anyone. I don’t want to see the Jamaican dollar at $175.00:$1US. I would like to see it at $125.00: US$100.00 in my lifetime. Of course, I recognise the importance of production in the stability of the exchange rate, but widescale “letting off” could endanger the gains of the recent past.

I was proud when the International Monetary Fund highlighted Jamaica along with two other countries that are successfully reducing debt. Things could have been far worse. Jamaicans must know what they want. We could have been in the position of Lebanon, Sri Lanka, and Turkey.

In my opinion, the country needs to continue these economic policies for another 10 years. And this, irrespective of the party in power.

Norman W M Thompson

norms74160@gmail.com