KINGSTON, Jamaica - AN editorial in the Chicago Tribune — one of the largest and most respected newspapers in the United States — which described the Jamaican economy as being in worse shape than that of Greece and an example of what could happen to countries that continue to pile up debt, has been viewed as inaccurate from representatives of both sides of the political divide.
Special advisor to the prime minister, attorney-at-law Delano Franklyn said that Jamaica was not in the same position as Greece which had to make unilateral decisions to reduce its stock of debt, while Opposition spokesman on finance Audley Shaw said it was not true that his party balked at imposing tough decisions to address the debt problem when they formed the government between 2007 and 2011.
The editorial published yesterday stated, among other things, that "the tourism mecca of Jamaica illustrates the catastrophic effects of borrowing way too much, and the painful choices that follow".