Former Jamaica finance minister wants fixed exchange rate

Since March 2013, the Jamaica dollar has lost 12.2 percent of its value, moving from Jamaica $97.34 to US$1 to Jamaica $109.02 to US$1.

KINGSTON, Jamaica, Tuesday March 18, 2014, CMC – The Opposition Jamaica Labour Party’s (JLP) spokesman on Finance Audley Shaw has called on the government to fix the exchange rate in the interest of economic stability.

Shaw, in a presentation at the University of the West Indies (UWI) Mona Campus on Thursday, said calls for a competitive exchange rate are nothing more than a euphemism for further devaluation which he points out has brought little gain so far.

“Are we seeing more exports as a result? No, in fact exports are down, not up. That is supposed to be one of the benefits of devaluation.  Shouldn’t we then be fighting to maintain a stable or fixed exchange rate because the bigger negative impact is on our debt? It is time for us to start asking where is the positive impact of this continued devaluation of the Jamaican dollar, if all we have are negatives, then I suggest that we need to look at fixing the exchange rate, even for a period of time.”  

Eastern Caribbean elections – commentary

Eastern Caribbean elections

 By Stabroek News – February 6, 2013 – Editorial |

Prime Minister Freundel Stuart of the Democratic Labour Party (DLP), Barbados has eventually called the long-awaited date for general elections in his country and the citizens go to the polls on February 21. Amidst continuing political turmoil, with a government virtually under siege from its own elected members for the better part of its five-year tenure, Grenada’s Prime Minister Tillman Thomas has surrendered to the inevitable, and has announced elections for February 19,  the last elections having taken place in July of 2008.

And in the federal state of St Kitts and Nevis which last had general elections in January 2010 that gave the St Kitts and Nevis Labour Party 6 seats to 2 for its St Kitts opponent, deepening turmoil in the ruling party suggests the possibility of an early turn to the polls, as the government with only a 6-5 majority if the Nevis seats are included, shows increasing internal fragility.