Culture Change Needed in Finance – PM Golding

Prime Minister Bruce Golding has been speaking of areas in the financial sector which he said needed to have a culture change. He was addressing the Scotia DBG investment seminar in Kingston on March 19.
Citing the former high interest rates on government paper Mr. Golding said, “the financial sector must be prepared to shake from its feet the dust of the era of high interest rates and heavy government borrowing. He added, that there is a need for an aggressive approach to risk assessment and risk management. There must be an eagerness to do serious lending and an anxiety to share in the success of profitable ventures”, he said.
On the issue of public sector wage demands he said, “Negotiations cannot be indifferent to the inability to pay or the devastating consequences to the economy if we were to pay.the demand for retroactive payment that is before us and reclassification amounts to $27 billion and some groups are busy making wage claims..for anything to go in, an equivalent amount has to go out.”
On public transportation, Mr Golding said that the national air and ground carriers cannot be supported without limit.
“You can expect wild outbursts when bus fares are increased shortly, but if they are not increased, how are the buses going to run?…Some of us are hell bent on keeping Air Jamaica but will not hear of increasing taxes..It is a logic that needs to be challenged,” Mr Golding said.