The Destruction of Jamaica’s Economy Through Austerity

[marmar]

Poverty and Unemployment Continue to Rise
The Destruction of Jamaica’s Economy Through Austerity

by PETE DOLACK


A small country immiserates itself under orders of international lenders; unemployment and poverty rise, the debt burden increases and investment is starved in favor of paying interest on loans. If this sounds familiar, it is, but the country here is Jamaica.

So disastrous has austerity been for Jamaica that its per capita gross domestic product is lower than it was 20 years ago, the worst performance of any country in the Western Hemisphere. In just three years, from the end of 2011 to the end of 2014, real wages have fallen 17 percent and are expected to fall further in 2015, according to the country’s central bank, the Bank of Jamaica.

Such is the magic of austerity, or “structural adjustment programs,” to use the official euphemism of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank.

A new paper from the Center for Economic and Policy Research, “Partners in Austerity: Jamaica, the United States and the International Monetary Fund,” reports that the amount of money Jamaica will use to pay interest (not even the principal) on its debt will be more than four times what it will spend on capital expenditures in 2015 and 2016. And despite a new loan, the country actually paid more to the IMF than it received in disbursements from the IMF during 2014! ...................(more)

http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/06/05/the-destruction-of-jamaicas-economy-through-austerity/

[malaise]

1. Right now we are sitting on a powder keg

Police were on sick out - teachers etc threatening strikes next week given the ridiculous wage increase offer of 5%. Something is going to give soon and very soon.

[djean111]

2. Oh, austerity will get around to the rest of us, one way or another.

TPP, TTIP, TISA, IMF.