An Analysis of the International Monetary Fund in Jamaica

In 1962, Jamaica gained independence from British rule. In 1973, the country begins to unravel because of a fiscal crisis. In order to stabilize the country’s finances, Former Prime Minister Michael Manley was forced to sign Jamaica's first loan agreement with the IMF in 1977, which was only giving out short term loans that were riddled with restrictions that made

In an article written in the Jamaica Observer, Haughton (2017) describes the state of Jamaica as an under-developed child who continues to depend on its parents for approval. “For many years colonialism milked Jamaica and other Caribbean countries by imposing a false identity on our people, diminishing resources that affected growth and development (Haughton, 2017).

“Life and Debt” is a documentary that examines the economic and social effects of globalization on Jamaica. The movie mainly describes the affects of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank’s structural adjustment programs. While these funds are created to help developing countries become more developed, the documentary shows how the reforms were not successful in Jamaica and put the country in debt. This paper will discuss the portrayal of globalization in the documentary, and how globalization can affect people through different scale—both locally and globally.

After visiting the country of Jamaica this past summer, I realized how dissimilar some countries can be from the United States. Jamaica was not unlike the United States in a terrible way, but the disparities made me additionally interested in researching about the beautiful and culture-rich country of Jamaica. Even though the majority of facts about the history and culture of the United States and Jamaica are dissimilar, I was surprised to come across some similarities among these two countries.

The music industry in Jamaica is one of the most influential in the world. Popular music genres such as reggae and dancehall was both originated in Jamaica. Likewise, rap and hip hop was stated by a Jamaican, called Kool Herc. Bob Marley is also a famous music artist from Jamaica. His music played an important role in many movements in Jamaica and all over the world. The most famous one is the fight against apartheid in South Africa. Dancing is also important in Jamaica. A famous proverb in Jamaica, is that “those who can’t dance, blame it on the music”. In all african countries, music and dancing is really normal and it’s like this in Jamaica too. It is normal to dance on the streets in public and have fun, while listening to music. By all means music and dancing is undoubtedly important for Jamaica and the culture is mostly based around

Jamaica, “everyone was looking forward. All the talk was of the coming independence, of what had to be done, and of what Jamaica would be like - and ought to be like - after independence. A new constitution was being written. A new government was being shaped. Jamaicans were becoming citizens of their own state, and the tasks of making the decisions

Today Jamaica is a commonwealth nation under Queen Elizabeth II as head of state and her appointee that represents her in the island is the Governor General. Jamaica has a democratic system that holds their election every 4 years to choose who will represent the island government. Jamaican have migrated overseas for various reasons, mainly for prosperity. Jamaica has a rich heritage which consists of African, Chinese and Indians, which solidifies our motto “out of many one

     The people of Jamaica have no influence on the daily economic decisions that affect their lives. For almost 25 years, Jamaica has been able to keep a very small percentage of its national revenue because of agencies like the World Bank and IMF. While other big name countries continue to grow economically, these

Jamaican is a bright and beautiful full of beaches and tropical weather Jamaica is a country which inspires its people to move forward as a country and as a nation. Their history speaks about experiences and successes of the citizens of Jamaica through fight by the people of Jamaica.”

Jamaica is a small island in the Caribbean Sea, where many tourists go for the lovely weather and beaches. When tourists are there they don’t see that fact that Jamaica is a developing country. In the movie Life and Debt they show that it is in the developing, the also bring up the rules that the IMF gave them. It also gives a view on which developing course Jamaica is following.

Through this international exchange of aid, both countries can benefit greatly in terms of sustaining its economy and delivering to its peoples interests.

The Jamaican economy is based on the free market model, and has few restrictions on trade, investment and movement of currency. The major productive sectors over the years have included tourism, mining, agriculture, information technology & telecommunications, manufacturing and the entertainment sector. Jamaica’s economy is presently very dependent on services, according to the CIA world fact book report of 2010, with it accounting for more than sixty (60%) of GDP. The country is also highly indebted and has a debt to GDP ratio of over 120%, indicating that based on Jamaica’s GDP it is extremely difficult for the country to pay off its increasing debt. Adding to this is the IMF loan

The two financial institutions that will be compared and contrast are the European Central (ECB), and the central bank of Jamaica, the Bank of Jamaica (BOJ). Being a native of Jamaica, I will start off with some background information on the BOJ. The Bank of Jamaica, established by the Bank of Jamaica Law (1960), began operations in May 1961. The establishment of the Central Bank was in recognition of the need for an appropriately regulated financial structure to encourage the development process, particularly as Jamaica was about to embark on the road to political independence. The main objectives of the Central Bank were defined by the Bank of Jamaica Act to be:

For the past 15 years, China has been in the limelight as one of the world’s fastest growing economy. The International Monetary Fund (2014) reported China’s average growth rate at an average of 10% over the past 30 years. The market economy of China is the world’s second largest economy by nominal GDP based on the World Bank Data. In spite of this fast growing economy, the country, like any developing country has experienced rough inflationary dynamics, and to target this, a mix of Monetary Policies have been adopted. Reserve Ratio Requirement (RRR) has an evolving role as a Monetary Policy tool to target these inflations. Ma, et al. (2011), presented that The People’s Bank of China (PBC) has actively changed its

Technical assistance and breeding which together the IMF calls capacity development are important benefits of IMF membership. Construction human being and institutional capacity within a country helps the government implement more effective insurance, leading to better economic outcomes. The IMF’s surveillance and lending work often helps identify expanse in which technical assistance and training can have the biggest shock. The IMF provides technical assistance in its areas of core expertise: macroeconomic insurance policy , tax policy and revenue administration, expenditure management, monetary policy, the commutation rate system , financial sector stability, legislative frameworks, and macroeconomic and financial Synonyms. The IMF relies on independent external and internal evaluations to assess the effectiveness of its technical assistance and training.