Shaw

A FIVE-MEMBER team led by Derick Latibeaudiere, governor of the Bank of Jamaica (BOJ), and Dr Wesley Hughes, financial secretary, is to travel to Washington, DC, today for further talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

The other members of the team are Darlene Morrison, a senior manager at the finance ministry; Audrey Anderson, BOJ senior deputy governor, and John Robinson, division chief of research at the BOJ.

The announcement of the team came yesterday as Finance Minister Audley Shaw scoffed at claims by Opposition Leader Portia Simpson Miller that an agreement with the IMF was in trouble because of the incompetent nature of Jamaica's presentation to the fund.

Incompetence

During her presentation on the final day of the party's annual conference on Sunday, Simpson Miller claimed the incompetence of the Government had led to the postponement of a visit by the technical team to Washington for talks with the IMF.

Simpson Miller also charged that the IMF was demanding answers to questions that have not been forthcoming from the team.

However, Shaw described the Opposition's claim as mischievous and irresponsible.

"I'm totally rejecting that outright," Shaw said, while arguing that it was the Government's decision to delay the team's visit to Washington.

"It had nothing to do with them. It's a question that the Cabinet decided to take a few days more to deliberate properly and very carefully on the decision in order to send the team to Washington fully prepared. Had Mrs Simpson Miller or Dr Davies taken the time to give us a call and to ask us the circumstances that occasioned that delay, we would have given them the correct information. What they have suggested is mischievous and totally false," added Shaw.

Necessary adjustments

The planned visit to Jamaica of an IMF team in the second week of September was cancelled because of the need to make further adjustments to the Government's fiscal and medium-term economic programme," Shaw said. "These adjustments became necessary because of the Government's decision not to pursue a liability management programme with its bondholders."

The finance minister told The Gleaner/Power 106 News that Cabinet signed off on the final submission for the IMF when it met in an emergency meeting last Thursday.

During that meeting, Cabinet also finalised the Supplementary Estimates, which are to be tabled in the House of Representatives later today.

"We decided to delay the trip of the technical people by one week in order to facilitate the final signing off. We are satisfied about the programme of engagement and dialogue with the IMF, bearing in mind that all of the dialogue does not require face-to-face discussions. We are in the age of telecommunications and instant communications," Shaw said.

He insisted that the negotiations with the IMF had been progressing smoothly.

Last Friday, Andreas Adriano, IMF press officer, told The Gleaner that the fund had not rejected Jamaica's initial submission.

While not as optimistic as Shaw that negotiations with the fund had been progressing smoothly, Adriano suggested that what had transpired so far during the talks between Jamaica and the international lending agency was par for the course.

"These are complicated discussions and they take time. I wouldn't put it as rejected, I would say it is in an ongoing process of negotiations, which is natural in any country," Adriano said, days before the opposition leader accused the Government of "bungling" the discussions.

Shaw is scheduled to leave the island on September 30 to attend the annual IMF/World Bank meeting in Istanbul, Turkey, where he will get an opportunity to have face-to-face discussions with the movers and shakers in the fund regarding Jamaica's request for US$1.2 billion in a standby arrangement.