Achieving improvements and sustaining progress in economic transitions—the Jamaican example
| Date | 01 November 2006 |
| Author | Carlton E. Davis |
| Published date | 01 November 2006 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1002/pad.4230150312 |
PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION AND DEVELOPMENT, VOL. 15,249-252 (1995)
Achieving improvements and sustaining progress in economic
transitionethe Jamaican example
CARLTON
E.
DAVIS
Jamaica
INTRODUCTION
Jamaica, like many other countries, including a number whose economies were
centrally planned, has been reducing the role of the state in economic management.
This paradigm shift,which has been on-going since the 1980s, has seen among other
things, large-scale privatizations of state entities. According to
The
Economist
of
August 21, 1993, some US$69 billion of state-owned firms in
50
countries were
privatized in 1992,which brought the total between 1985 and 1992, to some US328
billion. Privatization is only one facet of the transformations that are taking place. In
Jamaica’s case, many regulatary controls have been removed, such as in determining
prices and the requirement for import licences for a whole range of commodities.
Tariff barriers are being reduced or eliminated in keeping with various international
agreements. Stricter fiscal and monetary management is also a part of the new order.
Central to these transformations is the public sector, which must not only preside
over its
own
diminution, but gear itself to operate effectively in the situation. The
next section examines this requirement in more detail.
THE PUBLIC SECTOR
An
immediate role for the public sector is to ensure that transformations, such as
privatization, are undertaken as efficiently and effectively as possible. It is necessary,
for instance, for proper preparatory work, in determining, among other things: (a)
the assets to
be
privatized and the form these take; (b) the status of all liabilities and
assets; and (c) proper assessments of the values of the assets.
As part
of
the transformation, the public sector must, among other things, be
‘a
physician heal thyself‘ by reducing its size. This is necessary to support the tight
fiscal and monetary controls that are needed to create budgetary surpluses rather
than deficits, to enhance the prospects of a strong and stable currency, and, not least
of all, to divest those functions to private enterprise, which,
ceteris paribus,
should
provide more efficient and effective production and distribution of goods and
Carlton
E.
Davis
is
Permanent Secretary/Cabinet Secretary, Government
of
Jamaica,
1
Devon Road,
Kingston
6,
Jamaica.
CCC
0271-2075/95/03024944
0
1995
by
John
Wiley
&
Sons,
Ltd.
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