Jamaica business stimulus from the Government

[Rob]

More borrowed money to pay for it? JA is in a debt cycle that knows no end.

Not that I am aware of, we have been done with the IMF for about a year...

From PM Holness:

"The money we are giving back to people as support during this difficult time is not free money. It is money that we have collected from taxpayers. We therefore want to ensure that those receiving it are legitimate and identifiable.
#Covid19Jamaica #COVID19Response"

[TuffGong]

Not according to the Gleaner:

Three weeks ago, as the depth of the global economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic became increasingly clear, this newspaper urged the Jamaican Government to make a quick beeline to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a standby arrangement as insurance should the domestic economy go into free fall. It has, so far, declined to act on our advice.

In closing the Budget Debate on March 24, when he shored up the administration’s J$25 billion stimulus package with another J$9 billion in support for firms and workers who will lose jobs and income because of the coronavirus, Finance Minister Nigel Clarke insisted that the Government “has options”. Days later, he told The Gleaner that a new borrowing relationship with the IMF was “not on the cards” at this time but didn’t rule it out “should things deteriorate”.

This newspaper believes that the economic circumstance not only insists on an urgent engagement with the Fund, but that the Holness administration establishes a national task force to plan for the post-COVID-19 structure of the Jamaican economy.