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Ever since me a bway it puzzle me that Jamaica "gets" a loan and sometimes it is announced with jubilation.

Reading the headline I was wondering if it was a grant. When will we tell the IDB and the World Bank "no thanks"?

When our Debt/GDP Ratio is 135% (135:100) shouldn't we mourn the announcement and think of the services we will forego to repay the loan?

In reply to Headley

Don't be so hard on them/yourself,countries typically seek financing for such projects,question the terms if you wish though. What I can tell you though IADB is one of the better evils in this sphere as their packages are more holistic and geared toward local human health,development and progress.

Case in point I met the last T&T IADB head on a flight out of Miami a couple years ago and we had a very good conversation throughout the flight,I told him what I was into and he told me they were working on a financing package for new highways and roads but one of the conditions were to make existing roads safer with new barriers,lighting,signage and safety awareness campaigns,he also explained to me that their rates and terms were tailor made for every individual country and are less intrusive and obstructive than those of the IMF and more flexible and proactive

He told me a lot more pertinent stuff that escapes me at the moment,I'm sure I will remember as the day progresses . I view them as more of positive idealist looking to proliferate progressive living in the region through financial influence rather than blood sucking cold Rothschild banking pirates holding small countries to ransom.

In reply to Headley

The loan makes a lot of sense if the annual energy savings is more than interest charges and I think loans like this are about 3% per year, every dollar increase in oil price makes it look better.

In reply to bravos and Camos

You guys are smart and I do not disagree but the IDB is a Development Bank.

The Development part is good - I really mean that. But it's still a bank and the more yuh borrow the more yuh have to repay.

When more than 50% of Jamaica's earnings are going to repay loans a lot of offers that make sense normally no longer apply to Jamaica.

Anyway I wish we could talk a lot more about these matters and a little less about Kanye West or other irrelevant trivia.

In reply to Headley

The issue is not even the fact that it is a loan, though that is important.

The issue is whether the project will be done on time and in budget without corruption and 'scope creep'.

That is the real problem because then you have a loan and the deliverable is compromised.

In reply to Commie

Very true, because if the loan achieved the objectives and no funds were diverted the loan could usually be considered money well spent.

The badly implemented loan is the frightening scenario we all know throughout the Region - in layman's terms it's the man building a house with a mortgage who runs out of money before the house is habitable.