Business View Caribbean - October 2016 55
several years, and what challenges will you need to
overcome in order to achieve your objectives?
Williams
: “Our goal is to continue to help sustain a
macro-environment that is stable, so that business-
es have the confidence in their long-term plans; that
they’re not just thinking about next month or next
week, but they’re thinking about three, five, ten years
down the line - how they can go forward, how they can
expand, where the new markets are – and have confi-
dence that their expectations and estimates that they
have in their projections will hold. The levers that we
use to do that are in the tax regime: to continue to
reduce taxes both at the individual level and the cor-
porate level and to ensure that we do it in a way that
maintains a budget that everyone can have confidence
in.
“Jamaica continues to be under an IMF program. The
one that we’re in currently comes to an end at the end
of this year. And we have opened discussions already
with the IMF to continue that program. During the time
that this program was in effect, markets both domesti-
cally and externally developed significant confidence
in the program and the execution of it. And, as we draw
to a close on this one, there have been many ques-
tions from our private sector group and from external
markets as to what’s next. And we’ve announced that
we’ve begun discussions with the IMF. And that has
been received very well.
“But there are still a lot of things to do. Our public sec-
tor needs to be modernized. We need to become more
efficient, so that we can deliver the goods and services
that our government needs to deliver across the vari-
ous ministries. There is a lot of work that still needs
to be done. And we want to do it in an environment in
which people have confidence in the budget as pre-
sented, that interest rates will remain low, and that
the currency will remain stable so that businesses can
plan and individuals can plan their lives, as well. We
are very mindful of the impact that government has on
companies and our communities.”
