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Poverty In Jamaica Essay

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Jamaican people, starting when Jamaica accepted its first IMF loan to help the country survive the 1973 oil shock (CBC News Online, 18 Apr 2006). The IMF appears to deliberately take advantage of a poverty stricken country's desperation, causing the country's leaders to agree to austere debt traps ("debt trap”, n.d.) that make it almost impossible for a poor nation like Jamaica to stay afloat, let alone claw their way out of poverty. The draconian loans seem to only be in the interest of the lenders, under the guise of "help” for the desperate. I think the situation is unavoidable, because I suspect that the IMF has elements of corruption, operating under false pretenses in order to keep the countries it "helps” impoverished. The IMF's richest members profit immensely from the interest on Jamaican loans, so it makes sense that the IMF would want to continue lending to Jamaica decade after decade. Jamaica ends up staying desperate enough to keep borrowing.

The situation in Jamaica has been one of terrible poverty for almost forty years, receiving multiple IMF loans. Stephanie Black's documentary, "Life and Debt” (2001), details some of the many daily struggles the Jamaican people experience, controlled "by the U.S. and other foreign economic agendas” (Black, 2001). Jamaica is one of the most …show more content…

1), which sounds vague and self-serving. I think its actions are more synonymous to increasing the wealth of its richest members so that they may "protect the international financial system” in a way that reminds me of a tyrannical parent (rich) disciplining children (poor) with "tough love”. In my opinion, the IMF comes across as a massive-scale foreign loan shark. Indeed, "Jamaica has repaid more money ($19.8bn) than it has been lent ($18.5bn), yet the government still 'owes' $7.8bn, as a result of huge interest payments” (Dearden,

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