𝑴𝒂𝒖𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒖𝒔 𝒊𝒔 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝑱𝒂𝒎𝒂𝒊𝒄𝒂, 𝒔𝒐 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 !

MP Ram Etwareea has a tendency to adopt unusual and condescending views on some local issues. For example, his stance on the Basic Retirement Pension was particularly noteworthy: “ 𝒆𝒏𝒆 𝒕𝒊𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒍𝒆𝒛𝒐 𝒌𝒊 𝒕𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒃𝒂𝒏𝒆 𝒍𝒊𝒄𝒉𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒔 𝒑𝒆 𝒓𝒐𝒅𝒆 𝒓𝒐𝒏𝒈𝒆r" This vulgar metaphor shocked and outraged LePep.

There have been suggestions of borrowing a leaf from Jamaica’s experience in successfully managing its public debt ratio. Jamaica has set up an independent Fiscal Commission to promote sound fiscal policy and management and promote fiscal discipline. It acts as a legal body to guard, monitor and interpret the country’s adherence to fiscal rules. It has also built up a national consensus through discussions in a National Partnership Council, involving Govt, parliamentary opposition and social partners, leading to shared agreement on fiscal reform and consolidation.

A broad-based Economic Programme and Oversight Committee was entrusted with monitoring and publicly reporting on fiscal policies and outcomes. Through the power of public ownership and acceptance of burden sharing, fiscal reform polices continued unchanged even after a change in Govt.

The idea of a large round-table bringing together the government, the opposition, employers and trade unions to endorse economic decisions should not be mixed up with Jamaica’s reform measures or the austerities under IMF’s Extended Fund Facility and subsequently its precautionary Stand-By Arrangements.

That’s where our MP goes off track !

Yes, a country can absolutely establish an independent fiscal council or National Partnership Council without being under an International Monetary Fund (IMF) mandate. While Jamaica’s Independent Fiscal Commission was built to lock in the massive fiscal gains made during its consecutive IMF reform programmes, a National Partnership Council is simply a domestic institutional tool. It does not inherently require IMF supervision or ownership to function effectively.

A National Partnership Council is created by domestic legislation passed by a sovereign parliament. In Jamaica's case, the Independent Fiscal Commission Act was a deliberate domestic move to shift the country away from IMF oversight and replace it with self-mandated, internal public accountability. 𝑭𝒊𝒔𝒄𝒂𝒍 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒄𝒊𝒍𝒔 or National Partnership Councils 𝒂𝒄𝒕 𝒂𝒔 𝒊𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒑𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒏𝒕, 𝒏𝒐𝒏-𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒊𝒔𝒂𝒏 𝒍𝒆𝒈𝒂𝒍 𝒘𝒂𝒕𝒄𝒉𝒅𝒐𝒈𝒔. 𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒊𝒓 𝒋𝒐𝒃 𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒂𝒄𝒕 𝒂𝒔 𝒂𝒏 𝒐𝒃𝒋𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒆 "𝒔𝒆𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒅 𝒐𝒑𝒊𝒏𝒊𝒐𝒏" 𝒃𝒚 𝒎𝒐𝒏𝒊𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒃𝒖𝒅𝒈𝒆𝒕, 𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒆𝒄𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒄𝒉𝒆𝒄𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒊𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒈𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒏𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒊𝒔 𝒇𝒐𝒍𝒍𝒐𝒘𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒊𝒕𝒔 𝒐𝒘𝒏 𝒇𝒊𝒔𝒄𝒂𝒍 𝒓𝒖𝒍𝒆𝒔. 𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒅𝒐 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒅𝒊𝒄𝒕𝒂𝒕𝒆 𝒑𝒐𝒍𝒊𝒄𝒚 𝒐𝒓 𝒔𝒆𝒕 𝒕𝒂𝒙𝒆𝒔.

There are many nations across Europe, South America, and Asia which maintain highly effective independent fiscal watchdogs (such as the UK’s Office for Budget Responsibility or the Congressional Budget Office in the US) without being tied to IMF bailouts or strict external economic adjustment plans.

Our MP dares to drudge where even the daring flounders . He claims that “Maurice ne se retrouve nullement en situation de ne pas pouvoir honorer ses engagements extérieurs. 𝙀𝙡𝙡𝙚 𝙖 𝙢ê𝙢𝙚 𝙖𝙪𝙜𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩é 𝙨𝙚𝙨 𝙧é𝙨𝙚𝙧𝙫𝙚𝙨 𝙚𝙣 𝙙𝙚𝙫𝙞𝙨𝙚𝙨, 𝙨𝙪𝙛𝙛𝙞𝙨𝙖𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙨 𝙥𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙥𝙖𝙮𝙚𝙧 𝙨𝙚𝙨 𝙞𝙢𝙥𝙤𝙧𝙩𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙨 𝙥𝙚𝙣𝙙𝙖𝙣𝙩 13 𝙢𝙤𝙞𝙨 à 𝙥𝙧é𝙨𝙚𝙣𝙩, 𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙩𝙧𝙚 𝙨𝙚𝙪𝙡𝙚𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩 11 𝙢𝙤𝙞𝙨 à 𝙡𝙖 𝙢ê𝙢𝙚 𝙥é𝙧𝙞𝙤𝙙𝙚 𝙚𝙣 2025. Dans ces conditions, elle n'a aucun besoin de recourir au FMI qui est le prêteur de dernière instance.”

No dear, u have to be careful about the data; these bold numbers tell only a small part of the story, the other part of it is mere window-dressing by the BoM. At end June 26, BoM gross foreign reserves of USD11 bn were held up by a total of (1) foreign bank deposits of USD2.2 bn, (2) BoM liabilities to non-residents of USD1.4 bn, and (3) repos of USD1.5 bn. On a net basis, BoM foreign reserves thus stood at only around USD6 bn in June 26. Net BoM reserves rose by about USD1 bn over the second half of last year, but stagnated during the first half of this year.

Jamaica is described as a liberal capitalist economy still struggling in the middle income as per WB classification while the upper middle income Mts is being vaunted for being a "𝘴𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘪𝘨𝘯, 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘥 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘢 𝘧𝘶𝘯𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘦𝘭𝘧𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘦. 𝘖𝘶𝘳 𝘴𝘰𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘮𝘰𝘥𝘦𝘭 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘶𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘣𝘢𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘯 𝘴𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘥𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘺– 𝘧𝘳𝘦𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘵𝘩𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘦, 𝘱𝘶𝘣𝘭𝘪𝘤 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘴𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘦𝘥𝘶𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘶𝘱𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘱𝘶𝘳𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘱𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘳. 𝘍𝘶𝘳𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦, 𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘨𝘦 𝘰𝘧 60, 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘔𝘢𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘢𝘯 𝘪𝘴 𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘵𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘢 𝘶𝘯𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘢𝘭 𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯, 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘳𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘢𝘨𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘦𝘵 𝘢𝘵 65."

𝙉𝙤, 𝙈𝙋 𝙀𝙩𝙬𝙖𝙧𝙚𝙚𝙖 , 𝙬𝙚 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙥𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙡𝙮 𝙦𝙪𝙞𝙩𝙚 𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙩𝙡𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙗𝙧𝙖𝙜 𝙖𝙗𝙤𝙪𝙩; Mts is also a low tax liberal economy with a welfare system grafted to it. Mauritius's long-standing position as a non-aligned state and proponent of the Indian Ocean as a Zone of Peace faces a complex compromise due to its entanglement with great-power rivalry in the Indian Ocean by agreeing to perpetuate a major nuclear-capable Western military hub under a long-term lease and offering other facilities to another big power having its own designs in the Indian Ocean.

As for its economic and social model, over time ,it has metamorphosed into an unbalanced dual economy with two starkly different visions and we are seeing the gradual deterioration and dismantling of the welfare state. Indeed, over the years, the welfare state grated to the liberal economy has unquestionably been drastically trimmed.

The economic and bureaucratic/political elite have been constantly trying to convince most of us that some meaningful welfare trimmings were inevitable if we want to preserve our neoliberal “way of life”. That’s what Mr Etwareea, as a member of that political elite , à la solde of the economic elite, was trying to convey when he blurted out his vulgar metaphor in a condescending and arrogant way.