John Myers, Jr., Staff Reporter
Bruce Golding speaks at the Jamaica Customs Brokers Association 39th annual general meeting at Medallion Hall Hotel in St. Andrew, yesterday. - RUDOLPH BROWN/CHIEF PHOTOGRAPHER
OPPOSITION LEADER Bruce Golding is urging the Government and those in the region to include opposition parties and the public in discussions surrounding the establishment of a single market under the Caribbean Single Market and Economy (CSME).
"The Single Economy is going to require unification of policies that have been, hither to, completely within our own domestic jurisdiction," he said. "My concern is that the people of Jamaica are not aware of the implications of what we are entering into."
The CSME is being developed to unite the region into one economic space. One major pillar in this was erected earlier this month with the inauguration of the Caribbean Court of Justice.
"We need to know what is the nature of the arrangements being worked out; what impact it is going to have on domestic policy priorities; the things that governments have reserved the right to do in the past that they won't be able to do in the future ... the critical stakeholders have not been brought into the discussion," Mr. Golding said.
He was speaking at the annual meeting of the Customs Brokers Association (CBAJ) at the Medallion Hall Hotel, on Lady Musgrave Road, St. Andrew, yesterday.
AN ANTI-UNILATERALIST STANCE
Mr. Golding pointed out that the Opposition's stance did not mean that they were anti-regionalists. "It is an anti-unilateralist stance that I am taking," he said.
The Opposition leader said the regulations which the establishment of a single economy require, was consonant with the kind of policies and regulation the Opposition has been advocating.
"These are constraints that I would be prepared to sit down and say this makes sense, because I believe that so much of what we have suffered over many years has been because governments are virtually free to do anything, even if what they are doing is going to harm the country and the economy in the medium and long-term," Mr. Golding said.
"One of the rules, for example, is that your exchange rate must not fluctuate by more than one and a half per cent over any 36-month period," he stated. "It is virtually a fixed exchange rate."
INFLATION RATE
Mr. Golding said the inflation rate in Jamaica could not exceed one and a half per cent of the mean average of the three countries in the region with the lowest inflation rate. This, he said, would mean that Jamaica's inflation rate could not exceed four and a half per cent as Barbados and Trinidad have enjoyed average inflation rates of two and three per cent respectively.
Jamaica's inflation rate was 13.2 per cent for the last fiscal year, according to the Statistical Institute of Jamaica.
Rules for the single economy also stipulate that the fiscal deficit must never exceed three per cent and that the region must either agree on a single currency or each country's currency must be fixed against each other.
Such a structure requires a regional body with political legitimacy to impose its rules on the member countries, he said. But there is a principle in democracy that there can be no taxation without representation and therefore governments which are elected by the people cannot divest such powers to a body that is not accountable to the people.
