EDITORIAL - The other side of the IMF agreement

KINGSTON, Jamaica - SHORT OF Jamaica quitting its borrowing habit cold turkey, this newspaper is convinced that an agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is the only game in town. We also believe that given our situation, the deal that has been struck with the IMF is on the best terms that we could get. They are tough, but could have been much worse. But as we have said before, this agreement with the IMF is merely a means to an end - the start of a process of bringing our debt under control, returning confidence to the economy and creating an environment for sustained growth. Such things can't happen when a country's debt - at least that portion that it accounts for - is 140 per cent of national output and the servicing of which consumes 55 per cent of the annual budget.