OPPOSITION SPOKESMAN on Industry and Commerce, Karl Samuda, has appealed to the Government to call off the sale of FINSAC's bad debt portfolio, if the debts can attract an average 20 per cent or more of their actual costs.
Mr. Samuda suggested, instead, that the Government should either retain FINSAC to handle the portfolio, or establish a separate entity, in which it holds shares.
The Opposition spokesman said: "In this way, the process of collecting may be more gradual, but offers less dislocation for debtors who have suffered losses through the failings of the macro-economic policies of government."
He said that Jamaican investors were now broke because of government policies and were not able to buy back even the assets previously owned by them.
But, the suggestion may have already fallen on deaf ears. Minister of Finance and Planning, Dr. Omar Davies, indicated in opening the debate on April 11, that the Government had no intention of remaining in the loan collection business. He said that while suggestions that the Government maintain an institution to handle the portfolio for an extended time may seem the perfect option for many, that approach was untenable.
Mr. Samuda, who was speaking in the 2001/2002 Budget Debate on Wednesday, later criticised the growing trade deficit. He said that a US$286 million deficit in the Balance of Payments current account was "totally unacceptable" and could spell disaster, if not dealt with effectively.
He accused the Government of abandoning the Free Zones and leasing factories in the Kingston Free Zone for purposes other than duty free production.
"We now have a situation where the purpose for which these facilities were established is being defeated and the level of 'sanitisation' that should exist is gone. This opens the door to increased contamination of exports goods. No wonder there is little interest being expressed in these facilities by genuine exporters who prefer to operate in free zone areas," he said.
On production, Mr. Samuda recommended that the Minister of Finance requests the National Planning Agency to prepare production figures that relate directly to the number of persons employed in each sector, the number of hours worked and the real wage paid per hour to each worker.
"In that way we will be better able to determine the extent to which the workers' real wage is keeping pace with movements in inflation and economic growth," he said.
He suggested that the root cause of many of the social problems was that the workforce had not been brought along over the years.
The Government had failed to provide the infrastructural framework within which investors can feel comfortable to make appropriate and sustainable investments.
Mr. Samuda said the gap between the rich and the poor was widening and the children had begun to despair for their future.
The inability to achieve growth over the past seven years had taken its toll on the lives of the most vulnerable in the society and had robbed the workers of an opportunity to keep a step ahead of the ravages of inflation.
"We must share our wealth with our workers. As productivity improves and profits are realised, we must not leave our workers behind," he said.
