KINGSTON, Jamaica, CMC – The International Monetary Fund’s (IMF), resident representative to Jamaica, Bert Van Selm, says despite a front loaded adjustment programme, the economy has seen some growth over the first year of the programme.
Van Selm, made the comment in an address to persons attending a Financial Services Commission seminar here on Wednesday.
He asserted that Jamaica's economic reform programme is off to a strong start and for the rest of the programme period; there will be no need for further fiscal tightening, but that of staying on course.
He said this will have a big impact on the country's economic performance “because, in the year that you tighten your fiscal policy, you normally expect to see a negative impact on your economic growth, but actually so far this year, we haven’t seen too much of that, we’ve actually had a little bit of economic growth, in spite of this fiscal adjustment. So, going forward, that bodes well for the success of the programme, because a lot of the difficult stuff has already been done.”
