Concerns Mount Over Election Overspending: Joe Issa said it First

Joseph John Issa

Executive Chairman of Cool Group of companies, Joe Issa, said it first, followed by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and now, the concern over possible reckless election spending has been echoed by the Private Sector Organization of Jamaica (PSOJ).

In an article published by PRWeb on April 7. 2014 at www.prweb.com/releases/2014/01/prweb11530208.htm,[Chairman of Cool Group of Companies Joseph Issa says Jamaica will pass March 2014 IMF test despite challenges, calls for consolidation of gains], Issa noted that there was much more left to be done in terms of maintaining fiscal discipline and stability in the financial system, while expressing concern that these efforts could amount to nothing in the years ahead and cause the programme to derail.

In particular, he argued that with a general election due before the end of the programme, there may be compromises for political expediency which can derail the relationship with the IMF.

 Three months after Issa expressed that concern, Managing Director of the IMF, Christine Lagarde, speaking with Dionne Jackson Miller on Television Jamaica’s All Angles programme on July 2, 2014, said that “when there is an election that is scheduled, there’s always a tendency to overspend, or put pressure on the poor finance minister’s shoulders to let go a little bit and to facilitate the process.” It was her hope, she said, that Finance Minister, Dr. Peter Phillips, will be able to resist that impulse in the case of Jamaica’s next general election.

 Following Lagarde’s statement, Issa said in another PRWeb article published on July 23, 2014 at http://www.prweb.com/releases /2014/ 01/prweb11504728.htm, [IMF Vindicates Concerns about Election Overspending, says Joe Issa], that “I had not heard anyone looked so far ahead and come to the view that the next general election in Jamaica would be a big test for the government in terms of keeping as tight a lid as possible, on spending so as not to derail the programme with the IMF.”

 “At the time I thought it might not have been a reasonable or realistic position to hold, given the seriousness of the programme and what it means for the Jamaican economy. But having heard and read the IMF comments, I feel vindicated and that I’m not alone in my thinking,” says Issa.

 Now, in an article published in The Gleaner on September 21, 2015, titled “PSOJ Urges Government Not To Engage In Reckless Spending As Elections Near”, The Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica (PSOJ) is urging the Government not to engage in frivolous spending as elections draw near.

 The PSOJ stressed that “Jamaicans have made too many sacrifices over the past two years to see these gains reversed by frivolous expenditure, as has happened in past elections,” says the article. It said, “PSOJ President William Mahfood is urging the government to ensure that it remains committed to the fiscal and economic reform programme.”

 PSOJ President William Mahfood, was quoted as saying that “his organisation is pleased with the gains made under the economic programme, noting that “the monthly monitoring has shown improvements in the fiscal balances, current account balance, business confidence, and inflation and interest rates.”

 Commenting on this latest development, Issa says, “It’s reassuring that more persons and organizations are now seeing what I foresaw over a year ago … perhaps the Chambers of Commerce will follow suit … I hope the government listens.”