Jamaica is suffering from a shortage of foreign exchange due to the Global financial crisis. Remittance to the Island has been reduced by 14% and the bauxite  indutry has experienced some major closures recently. If the government does not have enough foreign exchange to pay for goods and services they may be  forced to go back to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for loans.

The IMF puts a bad taste in many Jamaicans mouth as they remember the 70′s when due to IMF strict guidelines the country undergone one of  its toughest economic times. The poor suffered the harshest blows when the prices of necessary food items like rice, sugar flour chicken etc., plummeted. The population blamed the IMF and did not see it as a viable alternative. Former Prime Minister PJ Patterson severe ties with the IMF to the joy of many Jamaicans. The truth is that the IMF maybe the only source of relief for countries in financial problems but they are seen as enemies to the world’s poor due to their policies.

Filed under: Finance

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