Financial experts praise Bank of Jamaica’s intervention to halt slide of dollar

KINGSTON, Jamaica, Friday July 11, 2014, CMC – The decision by the Bank of Jamaica (BoJ) to intervene in the foreign currency market in a bid to stabilize the local currency has been praised by financial experts.

The BoJ stepped in to stabilise the local currency, which on Thursday traded at J$112.71 to one US dollar. But there are concerns as to whether or not the BoJ has enough reserves to maintain the intervention.

Assistant Trading and Treasury Manager at Jamaica Market Money Brokers (JMMB), Kwame Brooks, said the intervention is possible for the immediate future.

“I think they will maintain a presence in the market to ensure orderly movement going forward. Usually the Central Bank doesn’t indicate how many days of intervention… it’s on a need to be basis.

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“What they will do is be vigilant and to keep a close eye to ensure that the movement is orderly,” he said, adding that the move by the BoJ to stabilize the dollar, will benefit from the assistance of major foreign exchange dealers.

President of the Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica (PSOJ) Chris Zacca is urging Jamaicans to focus on working efficiently to improve growth in the country instead of continuously talking about the devaluation of the Jamaican dollar.

Zacca addressing the Jamaica Observer Monday Exchange forum, acknowledged that the sliding dollar is causing real pain. But he believes that the emphasis being placed on the currency’s value is distracting businesses from focusing on production.

“The dollar is a market-determined rate, anyway. Let’s stop talking that it is going to be that much at the end of the year and let us put our heads down and do what we have to do to run the country and our businesses… Let’s stop talking down the dollar,” he told the forum.

Former finance minister Audley Shaw said the intervention of the BoJ, is in line with the policy of stability “promoted and successfully applied by the opposition Jamaica Labour Party (JLP).

“We have been warning the government for months that devaluation is hurting business, hurting people and hurting Jamaica. We were criticized for our positions, but as the higher prices and speculation have become chronic along with undeniable reductions in exports, it seems the BoJ has finally woken up,” Shaw said in statement.

But even as he welcomed the initiative, Shaw, the JLP’s spokesman on Finance, declared that it did not go far enough.

“Investors do not know the direction of the government so businesses cannot plan. The Government could decide next week to start devaluation again and this possibility does not bring confidence to the market and to the business sector,” he said.

He has called on the government to “state its policy direction clearly, and its policy must create a stable and predictable environment.”

Shaw said that if Jamaica is to benefit from the current IMF (International Monetary Fund) agreement, “the government must also come up with a proper growth and development policy that is bankable and saleable,” one that includes a robust growth strategy”.

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Financial experts praise Bank of Jamaica’s intervention to halt slide of dollar

"Vindication!" JLP responds to BOJ intervention in forex market

There has been a quick claim of vindication from the opposition Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) in response to the decision of the Bank of Jamaica to intervene in the foreign exchange market.Opposition Spokesman on Finance and Planning Audley Shaw has labeled the Central Bank’s move as one that is in line with the policy of stability “promoted and successfully applied by the Jamaica Labour Party.”

“We have been warning the government for months that devaluation is hurting business, hurting people and hurting Jamaica. We were criticized for our positions, but as the higher prices and speculation have become chronic along with undeniable reductions in exports, it seems the BOJ has finally woken up,” Mr. Shaw said in a press release on Thursday.

But even while welcoming this step, Mr. Shaw declared that it did not go far enough. “Investors do not know the direction of the government so businesses cannot plan. The Government could decide next week to start devaluation again and this possibility does not bring confidence to the market and to the business sector,” he said. 

Accordingly, Mr. Shaw wants the government to “state its policy direction clearly, and its policy must create a stable and predictable environment.”

Furthermore, he said, if Jamaica is to benefit from the current  IMF agreement, “the government must also come up with a proper growth and development policy that is bankable and saleable,” one that includes a robust growth strategy.”

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"Vindication!" JLP responds to BOJ intervention in forex market

Pastor says divine intervention needed to address crime

PASTOR of the Mandeville Seventh-day Adventist Church in Manchester Greg Baldeo said recent murders such as that of a man gun downed at the altar in a church, in the presence of children, shows that Jamaica is in desperate need of divine intervention.

Referencing the controversial comments made by National Security Minister Peter Bunting, earlier this year, about the need for divine intervention to fight crime, Baldeo said the minister spoke through divine inspiration.The minister came in for strong criticism and calls for his resignation after he told an audience at the Northern Caribbean University in April, that he was convinced that the best efforts of the security forces alone will not solve the crime problem in Jamaica, but rather it is going to take divine intervention, touching the hearts of a wide cross-section of the society.“In essence, what he was actually doing is calling on all of God’s people who are called by God’s name to humble themselves, and call a fast and pray for God’s divine intervention,” Baldeo told the congregation at the church’s day of prayer for the nation’s independence service on Saturday.However, the pastor argued that interest groups rejected the notion that power is found in prayer.“But as soon as the statement was made, the enemy pulled in the Trojan horse (Trojan horse comes as a disguise to blind your eyes from the actually imminent warfare) and took the country away from the essence of the statement — God is able to help,” Baldeo said.The emphasis, he said, was then placed on the man who uttered the statement.“The media highlighted those calling for the resignation of one who declared that God needs to be the source of all we do and us Christians, who should have gathered together and call on our God, allowed our minds to be politicised and polarised,” he opined.Baldeo stayed clear of siding with any political party, noting that the only vote he has ever cast is for Jesus.“Let me state this categorically, that the only time I have ever voted in my life is in the 80s when I entered the baptismal pool with my mother and voted to follow Jesus all the way,” he said.“Any political party that needs my approval must get the approval from God, and so I am not defending the statement in light of the party the minister represents; I am defending it in light of the God I represent,” he insisted.Baldeo cautioned against the desire to pull in Trojan horses.“When a group of strong, tough men can rape little girls, we need divine intervention; when someone can cut off the head of another human being and continue to walk among us, we need divine intervention; when a stepmother can chop up a four-year-old, put the carcass in a bag, throw it over her back and walk with it like some pig meat, we need divine intervention; when two sisters, who for years grew together and loved each other, and one day they have an argument and one stabs the other and kill her on the spot, we need divine intervention,” he insisted.The pastor, in acknowledging that the Christian battle is not carnal but spiritual, called the members to three days of prayer and fasting, starting yesterday through to Independence Day, tomorrow.This, he explained, is to take back the communities and the country for God.Earlier in the service, the national security minister, who was among the congregants, reiterated the need for divine intervention to address the country’s crime problem and said he had no apology for making that statement in April.Pastor of the Mandeville Seventh-day Adventist Church in Manchester Greg Baldeo prays with Minister of National Security Peter Bunting during a prayer for the nation at the Independence Service held at the Mandeville Church on Saturday.Pastor Greg Baldeo delivering the message.

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Pastor says divine intervention needed to address crime

PHOTO: Divine intervention

News

Monday, August 05, 2013

Minister of National Security Peter Bunting kneels for prayer during a service at the Mandeville Seventh-day Adventist Church in Manchester on Saturday. At the service Bunting reiterated controversial statements he made earlier this year that divine intervention is needed in the fight against crime. The statement drew criticisms and calls for his resignation. See related story on Page 6. (PHOTO: NIGEL COKE)

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PHOTO: Divine intervention