UWI professor backs call for Jamaica’s economic independence
DENSIL WILLIAMS, pro-vicechancellor of planning at the University of the West Indies (UWI), has thrown his support behind calls by Finance Minister Dr Nigel Clarke and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for Jamaica to move towards economic independence and wean itself from the strictures of multilateral and supranational economic governance institutions.
Williams, who is also a professor of international business at the UWI, argued that “economic independence is a noble vision and aspiration and should be shared by all proud and well-thinking members of our society”.
He pointed out that over the last eight years, the country has done a significant amount of work to restructure its fiscal and monetary operations in order to create a modern economic system that can lay the foundation for global competitiveness.
ECONOMIC AGENDA
Williams added: “While we are not fully out of the proverbial woods, we have come a far way in our fiscal and monetary management of the economy. We still have work to do, but we have been building the right frameworks to now manage our affairs on our own.”
According to him, as a people, we now need to ensure that “we have the stock of skills and capabilities that can help us to move the economic agenda forward in a sustainable way. For without the deep technical and managerial skills, we will not be able to build on the gains that we have made and can easily reverse to the days of bad economic policies”.
Williams added that investment in the country’s education infrastructure will be key to driving this call for economic independence.
“For it is from the educational architecture that the skills and capabilities will emanate in order to ensure that sound policies are put into place to better the lives of all Jamaicans,” the UWI professor added.
“While we are not fully out of the proverbial woods, we have come a far way in our fiscal and monetary management of the economy. We still have work to do, but we have been building the right frameworks to now manage our affairs on our own.”