EDITORIAL - Start of an EPOC

We note the first communiqué by the public/private group committee that has undertaken to monitor Jamaica's latest agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and are particularly struck by two things.

The first is symbolic, the acronym they have adopted: EPOC, which stands for Economic Programme Oversight Committee. Add the letter 'h' and the acronym spells the word 'epoch', among whose meaning is a point in time marking the beginning of a new, or distinct period. Phonetically, this word is indistinguishable from the committee's acronym - EPOC.

It is this newspaper's hope that the IMF agreement and the economic adjustments that it demands will mark a memorable epoch for Jamaica - the time in which we undertook bold actions leading to a long period of sustained macroeconomic stability and decent growth.

This would be in contrast to four decades in which the Jamaican economy grew at an annual average of more than one per cent. Its most distinguishing feature has been the growth of government debt, which new stands close to 150 per cent of gross domestic product and in hailing distance of Europe's sickman Greece.

That debt, even after the recent rescheduling of the domestic portion, will consume over 40 per cent of the Government's Budget this fiscal year. Further, a combination of a weak economy, a bloated public sector, ineffective tax collection and high debt-servicing costs means that 80 per cent of the taxes collected by the Government go towards paying its employees and creditors.

The debt, and all that it portends, is unsustainable. But the transformation will not be easy. Many of the things to be done will be initially unpopular. Governments, in such circumstances, are inclined to fudge.

Here is where the committee, co-chaired by central bank Governor Brian Wynter and Richard Byles, the CEO of the financial services firm Sagicor Jamaica, can be particularly useful. If the Government keeps its word and provides the committee with relevant and timely data on the quantitative and policy targets, they will be able to speak directly to the Jamaican people about actual and projected performance.

KEEP THE GOV'T HONEST

In other words, EPOC can help to keep the Government honest. It can also be helpful in other ways, like identifying potential pitfalls missed by policy analysts and in creating a non-partisan narrative about the reforms. We do not expect that EPOC's access to data will be after-the-fact when it can no longer influence outcomes.

The second point of note about the committee's communiqué is that it was issued by its non-public-sector members, apparently in line with our May 7 suggestion that this group form itself into a special caucus, ready to pronounce on issues on which their public sector colleagues might be inclined to be constrained.

In the current communiqué, the group noted the conflicting signals over the planned divestment of Clarendon Alumina Partners (CAP) and the potential for delay, because of the existing backlog in the system, in drafting reform legislation.

On the former, they assured of efforts to sell CAP by year-end and have been told that foreign help is coming for the legislative drafting. We expect that these, like other undertakings, will be kept under watch.

Mr Byles and his group we expect to talk loudly - and often.

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