Malicious attack

THE EDITOR, Sir:

Mr Gordon Robinson column ('Falconer minister of misinformation') in The Sunday Gleaner of March 24, 2013 was unfortunate, unfair and bordered on malicious.

I saw the 'Direct' programme on CVM TV and I heard the unfortunate critique by Mr Ralston Hyman. After reading the article, although I had heard the clip on CVM and Nationwide about four times, I acquired a copy of the transcript just to be absolutely sure, before I wrote this response.

At the press briefing held at Jamaica House, a question was asked by CVM of the deputy financial secretary in attendance, on the remedies to halt the sliding dollar. She replied: "That is not my particular area of focus. The ministry is considering a number of options, I'm sure, but it will be dealt with at a later date, but I would not be able to say what those measures are right now."

Minister Falconer added, "If I may, I know it is a concern to all of us because we know what the impact of a sliding dollar does to prices, especially for the poor and most vulnerable among us. We expect, though, that when we sign off on the IMF agreement, we will have money in the Consolidated Fund and, therefore, we won't have the kind of impact on the dollar as we are having."

Can Mr Robinson tell the readers where Minister Falconer said money from the IMF will be going into the Consolidated Fund? Is Mr Robinson aware that once the IMF agreement is signed, money from other multilateral agencies will flow into the Consolidated Fund? As a matter of fact, those funds are even more important than the IMF money, which goes directly to the Bank of Jamaica.

The funds from these multilateral agencies will be used to fund the implementation of projects and job creation which will lead to expansion and stability of the economy and, of course, that will have a positive impact on the dollar.

Minister Falconer was not wrong. If Mr Robinson was tuned in or interested, he would have heard Emily Crooks on Nationwide the following morning say that immediately after the briefing, the CVM reporter was told by the minister that she did not express herself as clearly as sheought to have done. She reportedly explained to him that money from the IMF goes to the BOJ and money from other multilateral agencies go into the Consolidated Fund. The CVM reporter apparently did not pass that message to his/her colleagues involved with 'Direct', who used the clip along with a biting critique.

CVM had a duty to remedy the situation it created based on its own lack of internal communication.

I maintain, however, that even without the benefit of that explanation from CVM, it was clear to me from the night I watched 'Direct' that the minister did not say money from the IMF will go into the Consolidated Fund.

The drama created by the host, Garfield Burford, and Mr Hyman was just that. As my 17-year-old daughter would say, 'SMH'.

OLIVER JAMES STEWART

oliverjamesstewart@gmail.com