Jamaica “Steadfast” in Resolving IMF Issues, Government Says

Above: IMF headquarters in Washington, DC

The Jamaican government will remain steadfast in resolving the main issues in its discussions with the International Monetary Fund, Information Minister Sen. Arthur Williams said Wednesday.

The government is working to address tax reform, public sector pension reform, the sale of aluminium company Clarendon Alumina Partners and the treatment of public sector wage issues, he said.

According to Williams, a report is to be made by the Joint Select Committee of Parliament, which is chaired by Finance Minister Audley Shaw, on the government’s Tax Reform Green Paper.

At the same time, the Joint Select Committee on Public Sector Pension Reform, which Williams chairs, is also meeting.

“There are a series of meetings set for us to have a report for Cabinet and Parliament by early December, so that it can get to the stage of a White Paper before the end of January,” he said.

As for Clarendon Alumina Partners, an agreement has been signed with a buyer, but Alcoa, which is a shareholder in the company, has the option to either match the offer or dispose of its shares within 90 days.

“Unless Alcoa agrees to bridge that time, we have to wait … so things are underway,” Williams said.

On the public sector wages side, Williams said the agreement for a seven percent payment up to 2013 had affected the country’s GDP ratio. When the government entered into the IMF agreement in 2009, the GDP ratio was 11.75 percent, and the agreement holds that wages should be 9.5 percent of GDP by 2015.

“The IMF is holding us to the agreement that we made with them, as well as our own legislation to reduce the wage to GDP ratio,” he said. “That is our challenge, to ensure that the trajectory is in the right direction for getting to 9 percent in 2016.”

–Jamaica Information Service