A Look at The Economic Status of Jamaica

Life and Debt details the Jamaican struggle to develop a sufficient, independent economy as they forge the way in their attempt to recover from the globalization that has taken a hold on their markets. Globalization, as depicted by the producers of the movie, is the condition in which multinational countries have begun to dominate Jamaica’s markets. Once a largely agricultural based economy, Jamaica now suffers from excessive, cheap imports from various nations, namely the United States. Its producers, farmers, have been pushed out of their own country’s market, due to trade agreements as well as contingencies on loans. Fields once dedicated to dairies, crops, and fresh produce are now barren land, laden with abandoned houses and unsowed acreage.

The beginning of Jamaica’s economic fallout started with the energy crisis experiences in the 1970’s. In order to be able to pay these rising costs, Jamaica turned to the IMF and the World Trade Organization, the only organization willing to loan the money. In 1977, former Prime Minister Michael Manley signed the first loan agreement, allowing the IMF and World Bank to become fully involved in the development, or lack thereof, of Jamaica’s economy and social policies. Once the IMF had Jamaica hooked into its claws, it was able to control every move the country made. The 1970’s energy crisis took a particularly large toll on Jamaica due to its relatively recent emergence from colonization by Great Britain. With the economy already in a vulnerable state, it didn’t take much to tip them over the edge into seemingly unmanageable debt.

Jamaica originally had a long term development plan that would have allowed for increased infrastructure and utilized natural resources. The IMF, however, was interested more in the short term use and repayment of the loan, demanding repayment quickly in large amounts. Because of the loan and agreements in place, the IMF was able to demand budget cuts in sectors of Jamaica’s economy such as education, health, and financial support of locally grown and harvested products.

On the drive to one of the resorts, a run-down building is shown, described and presented to be a public outhouse. Shockingly, this is actually one of the few schools in Jamaica. Due to education budget cuts, school and academics are no longer allowed to be a priority, with students being well behind the national standards today. Workers are charged education taxes and healthcare premiums, however, these taxes are not used to better the country, but instead, go nowhere.

One of the hardest hit sectors of Jamaica was the agriculture market. Once populated by local farmers, markets now are held by imported products. Farmers who had been prosperous, on a relative scale, now struggled to make ends meet due to the forced importation of products from other nations. All protectionist measures such as tariffs, embargos, and trade agreements were ordered by the IMF to be voided, eliminating any ability to give locally driven markets a chance to compete with successful, developed countries. The IMF even went as far as to mandate interest rates available to local farmers, imposing rates of around 23%, substantially higher than what a typical Jamaican farmer could afford, and much higher than deemed fair by the country itself.

One market specified in the movie is the dairy enterprise. A local farmer shows the stalls that his cows once stood in, stating that there was no way to compete with the powdered milk prices available from the United States. The tourist market, with resorts being one of the largest buyers of the homegrown products, began to make the switch from local, to commercial food, with nearly all products being imported to this day. It is stated in the movie that little do the travelers know, their delicious “local” meal consists of food grown in the United States, imported from Miami, Florida earlier that day.