Above: the Bank of Jamaica

By the Caribbean Journal staff

There will be no return to a Jamaica of high interest rates, according to Industry Minister Anthony Hylton.

The Jamaican government is committed to low inflation and low interest rates, the Minister said, responding to a concern by Omar Azan, a past president of the Jamaican Manufacturers’ Association.

“There is no such policy position [of a high interest rate policy],” Hylton said. “I am not aware of it and I have been in all the discussions.”

Hylton said the country had seen “significant” structural adjustments, particularly the Jamaica Debt Exchange.

“The structural adjustment occurred in significant ways and nobody in this administration is working to reverse any of that because a person would be crazy to think that a high interest rate policy is desirable,” he said.

The Bank of Jamaica has targeted inflation of between 6 and 8 percent for the fiscal year 2011/2012.

Earlier at the meeting, Hylton spoke about the importance of the manufacturing sector to Jamaica.