KINGSTON, Jamaica— Opposition Spokesman on Investment, Trade and Global Logistics, Anthony Hylton, has taken a swipe at Finance Minister Dr Nigel Clarke, using his own words against him after Clarke was forced to admit to a $22 billion revenue shortfall for the 2023/24 fiscal year.

“The finance minister’s post budget disclosure of the shortfall of $22 billion in revenue, admitting it is a setback to the government’s fiscal target, goes beyond being a red card, it is an own goal the implications of which we are not yet clear,”  Hylton declared.

He was speaking during his contribution to the 2024/25 Sectoral Debate in the House of Representatives this week.

Hylton was mocking Clarke who, in his budget presentation in March, used props, including a red card, to discredit aspects of the budget presentations of Opposition Leader Mark Golding and the Shadow Finance Minister, Julian Robinson.

Hylton noted that the budget debate focused primarily on the fiscal accounts of the country “in which the government declared its great satisfaction and the wizardry displayed in achieving the macroeconomic stability of the country’s economy, which it says it is now leveraging for the benefit of the people of Jamaica”.

“Very little focus was placed on the external accounts of the country, which paints a more sobering picture of the country having made strides in reducing its public debt and achieving a measure of macroeconomic stability, but remains vulnerable to exogenous shocks from geopolitical events, conflicts, disruptions in the global supply chains, climate events and a structural deficit with its key trading partners,” Hylton remarked.

He added that “This omission is serious as external accounts play a major role in the determination of the domestic budget given its direct influence on foreign exchange availability and interest rates. Furthermore, economic growth is a function of foreign exchange availability, because Jamaica is a small open economy, which depends heavily on imported goods and services to fuel production and consumption”.

By way of example, the Opposition spokesman said Jamaica currently imports over 90 per cent of its productive inputs. He noted that for the first eleven months of last year, imported goods and services amounted to almost US$ 2.10 billion or 30 per cent of total imports, while fuel, which accounted for 26 per cent  of total imports, were running at almost $ 1.80 billion.

With total imports by value for the first 11 months of 2023 amounting to US$ 6.982 billion according to Hylton, total exports were valued at just US$ 1.863 billion, leading to a trade deficit of US$ 5.119 billion.

“Close to 50 per cent of the import bill goes to support the country’s consumption habits. Meanwhile, the net flows from the tourism sector, during the same period were only US$ 1.60 billion, while net remittances were running at US$ 2.851 billion.

“This means that the trade deficit could not be financed by remittances and the net tourism flows combined. Put another way, the earnings of the country could not finance the import bill. This remains a major vulnerability for the sustainability of the current macro-economic stability,” Hylton highlighted.