Most well-thinking Jamaicans were engulfed by mixed feelings when news of Finance Minister Dr Nigel Clarke’s impending assumption of duties as deputy managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) came through.

On one hand, our country can be exceedingly proud of Dr Clarke’s epochal personal achievement and the degree to which it elevates Jamaica on the global stage. On the other hand, we cannot escape the sense of loss we feel knowing that one of our more talented, astute, and respected stewards of public office, the very challenging ministry of finance and the public service, will no longer be available to us in that capacity as he moves on to the IMF.

That Dr Clarke has distinguished himself as finance minister and consummate servant of the people cannot be overemphasised. He is the embodiment of the sobriety, intellectual capacity, and policy dexterity that is required to appreciate and navigate complex issues in the management of our economy and public finances.

These are the traits that endear him to us, and Jamaicans at home and abroad will recall for many years to come his gravitas and acumen, which they found quite refreshing and reassuring. Simply put, the Nigel Clarkes of this world are rare, and we salute him for the stellar leg of the relay in building enterprise Jamaica that he has run.

Given the vicissitudes of the global economy within which Jamaica operates and the considerable exogenous shocks and market volatility to which we are exposed, especially since we are a small-island developing state, the question as to who will succeed Dr Clarke as finance minister will understandably occupy people’s attention at this time.

The pundits, financial analysts, and indeed ordinary Jamaican’s are looking on keenly as public discourse centres on Prime Minister Andrew Holness’s next move. If the undergirding macroeconomic policies and philosophy of the governing Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) are anything to go by, one must conclude that whilst anxiety and concern are natural and understandable reactions at this time, there is hardly any need for agitation or despair given the work which took place to position our economy on a solid footing. It should not be forgotten that much of the work under the Holness Administration to place our economy in good stead predated Dr Clarke.

After all, the Government boasts a throng of highly qualified and capable talents who are well placed to step up to the plate, take up the mantle, and pick up where Dr Clarke left off so as to ensure policy continuity and Jamaica’s continued move in the right direction.

Not surprisingly, the detractors and purveyors of doom have been quick out of the proverbial blocks in the wake of the announcement of Dr Clarke’s impending transition to the IMF. Among other things, they cite “concern for Jamaica’s economic future” and the recovery efforts the onslaught of Hurricane Beryl now necessitates. Perhaps a trip down memory lane as a pushback to the naysayers will provide appropriate context and place things in better perspective so that the understandable anxiety of the general public is not exploited by those advancing their myopic partisan agenda, seeking power at all costs.

The encouraging and relatively enviable economic position Jamaica currently enjoys did not come overnight. Indeed, any objective and dispassionate assessment of the Jamaican economy will trace the fruits of today’s macroeconomic stability and fiscal prudence back to the Bruce Golding Administration.

Amid a politics of securing power by any means necessary, even if it meant “running wid it”, Jamaica’s economy throughout the 1990s to mid-2000s was characterised by fiscal recklessness, profligacy, and short-sightedness in policy formulation (for example, the forward sale of bauxite). The wretched ‘90s to mid-2000s was the era of deficit financing, Financial Sector Adjustment Company (Finsac), legacy debt, spending what we didn’t earn, massive taxation, unemployment, and stymied business growth and innovation as inflation and high rates saw the then Government competing with the private sector for capital, with government paper being the only game in town.

Fast-forward to the Golding era in which then Finance Minister Audley Shaw’s sustained campaign to lower interest rates as a catalyst for lowering the cost of money and making it easier to do business, coupled with his re-engagement of the multilaterals (IMF, World Bank, Inter-American Development Bank, and Caribbean Development Bank), saw the stage being set for long overdue economic reform, fiscal consolidation, and a culture of prudence in the management of public finances.

It was against this backdrop that loss-making public assets, such as Air Jamaica, the Sugar Company of Jamaica, and Caymanas Track Limited, which were an albatross around the neck of Jamaican taxpayers, were divested. The Jamaica Debt Exchange and the suite of legislative reforms, not least, the inception of the Public Bodies Management and Accountability Act are not to be overlooked, as they were critical elements of the structural reforms upon which the People’s National Party Administration, of which Dr Peter Phillips was a part, built between 2012 and early 2016.

In making its case to be elected to office in February 2016, the Jamaica Labour Party championed new approaches to doing things, which included a strategic shift from heavy reliance on direct taxation to indirect taxation. The view, of course, was that in pursuit of sustained economic growth, putting more money in people’s pockets — raising the income tax threshold to $1.5 million — would boost aggregate demand, spur increased economic activity, and induce business expansion, which, in turn, would see revenues performing admirably, thereby enabling Government to provide more services to the Jamaican people. In this regard, an extended-fund facility with the IMF enabled orderly and sustained economic reform and robust investments on the part of the Government in instituting reforms, for example, central bank independence; building new institutions, such as fiscal council; strengthening existing ones; and consolidating the ecosystem for fiscal responsibility, accountability, and growth inducement.

So while Dr Clarke will be missed, patriotic Jamaicans wish him well and stand assured that based on the institutions that have been built by the Holness-led Administration and the overall body of work undertaken, the show will go on under a newly minted finance minister.

I am confident that there will be no fundamental policy, structural, or institutional change that would impair our economic growth thrust, low unemployment, moderate inflation, improved public service delivery, and social welfare and protection.

jacobsclaire018@gmail.com