The concluding two paragraphs; sorry for the inconvenience. Apparently AOL
has a cap on how many characters it allows in an e-mail.
****************************************************************************
The price of Jammeh's adventures at the expense of the taxpayer, is to
deplete the Gambia's reserves whilst lying his head off about manna from the
sky - "Allah's World Bank" - and plunged the Gambia further into the debt
trap. Logic dictates that at some stage the dough he borrowed to fund his
adventures had to be paid back to his lenders and its knock-on effects on the
economy was to see debt-servicing gobbling more than a third of the annual
budget. As Jaata informs us in his sodding Budget Speech, "The Gambia's total
debt stock which stood at US$390 million in 1990 has by 1999 reached $566
million representing a 45% increase in nominal value terms. Of this, 75% is
external and 250o domestic debt this translates into US$425 million and
US$141 million respectively. The external debt burden is expected to reach
US$439.5 in nominal value terms by year ending 2000." Now I hope people will
appreciate why I said earlier that Jaata's gloating of climbing two places up
in the UNDP's league table is bit of a tongue-in-cheek when one looks at the
whole picture. Here he informs us that the debt situation is depleting
whatever they have to expend on human development but is brave enough to tell
us that they are doing great! Jaata then launched into a pitiful lamentation
of the debt situation: "The burden of debt is no longer sustainable and is
seriously stifling our poverty reduction efforts as we devote ever 30% of our
budget to debt servicing. The domestic debt burden which, until recently was
manageable, is now of great concern as it negatively impact on the interest
rate and subsequently crowd-out private sector investment in the economy."
This is perhaps Jaata's most honest statement. Explicit in the above, Jaata
is admitting the knock-on effects of Jammeh's Peter Pan economics on the real
economy as whole: The money borrowed to fund the silly Arch 22 and to line
the pockets of Jammeh and members of his Cartel is now adversely affecting
the real economy thus: "negatively impact on the interest rate and
subsequently crowd-out private sector investment in the economy" Could
someone please inform Jaata that it is payback time - as you sow so shall you
reap?
The real and principal dangers dogging after the heels of the Gambian economy
is lack of a productive base to sustain the spending spree Jammeh embarked on
in the early days and the knock-on effects they have on the declining
purchasing power of both producers and consumers thus unleashing what Milton
Friedman once memorably called "unlegislated taxation" - inflation. This
situation didn't come out of the blues: It had its roots partly in reckless
public expenditure in silly "projects" and its concomitant effects on what
Jaata labelled as "negatively impact on the interest rate and subsequently
crowd-out private sector investment in the economy." As I write this, talk is
of hyperinflation and not inflation: Prices of basic commodities had
increased by 100% and the situation is largely reminiscent of the Gambia of
1981 shortly after Kukoi's ill-fated putsch. Yet, Jaata's sodding Budget
Speech spares only a scanty four-line paragraph to such a grave concern as
inflation! This is what I read in his sodding speech: "The rate of inflation
as measured by the weighted current consumer price index (CPI) is 0.9%
between January and December 2000 compared to 3.8% 8% in 1999. The Food Drink
and Tobacco" component rose b~ t) 20/0. accounting for a 15.1% rise in the
overall index while the "Non-food" component registered a 2% rise, accounting
for 84.9% of the overall rise in the index." This deserves nomination for
understatement of the year! If we accept that Jaata is indeed right and "the
rate of inflation as measured by the weighted current consumer price index
(CPI) is 0.9% between January and December 2000", then any sane and rational
being would question why we are heading towards a situation in which we might
as well say the Gambia is on throes of experiencing hyperinflation barely a
month after we are informed that inflation stands at barely 1 percent? The
answer is quite easy. You see Jaata already informed us in that give-away and
frank statement that indeed debt servicing is making him lose sleep because
"The domestic debt burden which until recently was manageable is now of great
concern as it negatively; impact on the interest rate and subsequently
crowd-out private sector investment in the economy." So the little foreign
exchange that is circulating is in effect being gobbled up by debt servicing
Jammeh's adventures and thus depriving importers of the necessary foreign
exchange to import the basic commodities we are seeing igniting Gambia's
worst inflationary fear since the early 80's. The broadside is inescapable
here. So "Allah's World Bank" that Jammeh had such a good fortune in
discovering - which more pious Muslims never discovered - does in fact charge
punitive interests and penalties! Need anyone tell this moron that as he had
sown so shall he reap? Time has finally caught up with Jammeh and his Peter
Pan economics.
As things stand, it would not be farfetched to speculate here that to rescue
the situation, the Gambia is very likely to be thrown into a deep
recessionary and inflationary lurch - stagflation. With the Dalasi
depreciating daily against the major trading currencies, prices of basic
commodities on the rise, the economy without the productive base to
resuscitate the decline power of consumers and producers, a virtually
non-existent private sector investment, the gov't steeping further in the
debt trap and political mismanagement the order of the day - the abyss seems
not far off for the Gambia. If not, I expect another high profile APRC
mission with begging bowls to Washington, where it turns out - guess what? -
"Allah's World Bank" is really located. The joke is on them.
Hamjatta - Kanteh
The price of Jammeh's adventures at the expense of the taxpayer, is to
deplete the Gambia's reserves whilst lying his head off about manna from the
sky - "Allah's World Bank" - and plunged the Gambia further into the debt
trap. Logic dictates that at some stage the dough he borrowed to fund his
adventures had to be paid back to his lenders and its knock-on effects on the
economy was to see debt-servicing gobbling more than a third of the annual
budget. As Jaata informs us in his sodding Budget Speech, "The Gambia's total
debt stock which stood at US$390 million in 1990 has by 1999 reached $566
million representing a 45% increase in nominal value terms. Of this, 75% is
external and 250o domestic debt this translates into US$425 million and
US$141 million respectively. The external debt burden is expected to reach
US$439.5 in nominal value terms by year ending 2000." Now I hope people will
appreciate why I said earlier that Jaata's gloating of climbing two places up
in the UNDP's league table is bit of a tongue-in-cheek when one looks at the
whole picture. Here he informs us that the debt situation is depleting
whatever they have to expend on human development but is brave enough to tell
us that they are doing great! Jaata then launched into a pitiful lamentation
of the debt situation: "The burden of debt is no longer sustainable and is
seriously stifling our poverty reduction efforts as we devote ever 30% of our
budget to debt servicing. The domestic debt burden which, until recently was
manageable, is now of great concern as it negatively impact on the interest
rate and subsequently crowd-out private sector investment in the economy."
This is perhaps Jaata's most honest statement. Explicit in the above, Jaata
is admitting the knock-on effects of Jammeh's Peter Pan economics on the real
economy as whole: The money borrowed to fund the silly Arch 22 and to line
the pockets of Jammeh and members of his Cartel is now adversely affecting
the real economy thus: "negatively impact on the interest rate and
subsequently crowd-out private sector investment in the economy" Could
someone please inform Jaata that it is payback time - as you sow so shall you
reap?
The real and principal dangers dogging after the heels of the Gambian economy
is lack of a productive base to sustain the spending spree Jammeh embarked on
in the early days and the knock-on effects they have on the declining
purchasing power of both producers and consumers thus unleashing what Milton
Friedman once memorably called "unlegislated taxation" - inflation. This
situation didn't come out of the blues: It had its roots partly in reckless
public expenditure in silly "projects" and its concomitant effects on what
Jaata labelled as "negatively impact on the interest rate and subsequently
crowd-out private sector investment in the economy." As I write this, talk is
of hyperinflation and not inflation: Prices of basic commodities had
increased by 100% and the situation is largely reminiscent of the Gambia of
1981 shortly after Kukoi's ill-fated putsch. Yet, Jaata's sodding Budget
Speech spares only a scanty four-line paragraph to such a grave concern as
inflation! This is what I read in his sodding speech: "The rate of inflation
as measured by the weighted current consumer price index (CPI) is 0.9%
between January and December 2000 compared to 3.8% 8% in 1999. The Food Drink
and Tobacco" component rose b~ t) 20/0. accounting for a 15.1% rise in the
overall index while the "Non-food" component registered a 2% rise, accounting
for 84.9% of the overall rise in the index." This deserves nomination for
understatement of the year! If we accept that Jaata is indeed right and "the
rate of inflation as measured by the weighted current consumer price index
(CPI) is 0.9% between January and December 2000", then any sane and rational
being would question why we are heading towards a situation in which we might
as well say the Gambia is on throes of experiencing hyperinflation barely a
month after we are informed that inflation stands at barely 1 percent? The
answer is quite easy. You see Jaata already informed us in that give-away and
frank statement that indeed debt servicing is making him lose sleep because
"The domestic debt burden which until recently was manageable is now of great
concern as it negatively; impact on the interest rate and subsequently
crowd-out private sector investment in the economy." So the little foreign
exchange that is circulating is in effect being gobbled up by debt servicing
Jammeh's adventures and thus depriving importers of the necessary foreign
exchange to import the basic commodities we are seeing igniting Gambia's
worst inflationary fear since the early 80's. The broadside is inescapable
here. So "Allah's World Bank" that Jammeh had such a good fortune in
discovering - which more pious Muslims never discovered - does in fact charge
punitive interests and penalties! Need anyone tell this moron that as he had
sown so shall he reap? Time has finally caught up with Jammeh and his Peter
Pan economics.
As things stand, it would not be farfetched to speculate here that to rescue
the situation, the Gambia is very likely to be thrown into a deep
recessionary and inflationary lurch - stagflation. With the Dalasi
depreciating daily against the major trading currencies, prices of basic
commodities on the rise, the economy without the productive base to
resuscitate the decline power of consumers and producers, a virtually
non-existent private sector investment, the gov't steeping further in the
debt trap and political mismanagement the order of the day - the abyss seems
not far off for the Gambia. If not, I expect another high profile APRC
mission with begging bowls to Washington, where it turns out - guess what? -
"Allah's World Bank" is really located. The joke is on them.
Hamjatta - Kanteh
The price of Jammeh's adventures at the expense of the taxpayer, is to
deplete the Gambia's reserves whilst lying his head off about manna from the
sky - "Allah's World Bank" - and plunged the Gambia further into the debt
trap. Logic dictates that at some stage the dough he borrowed to fund his
adventures had to be paid back to his lenders and its knock-on effects on the
economy was to see debt-servicing gobbling more than a third of the annual
budget. As Jaata informs us in his sodding Budget Speech, "The Gambia's total
debt stock which stood at US$390 million in 1990 has by 1999 reached $566
million representing a 45% increase in nominal value terms. Of this, 75% is
external and 250o domestic debt this translates into US$425 million and
US$141 million respectively. The external debt burden is expected to reach
US$439.5 in nominal value terms by year ending 2000." Now I hope people will
appreciate why I said earlier that Jaata's gloating of climbing two places up
in the UNDP's league table is bit of a tongue-in-cheek when one looks at the
whole picture. Here he informs us that the debt situation is depleting
whatever they have to expend on human development but is brave enough to tell
us that they are doing great! Jaata then launched into a pitiful lamentation
of the debt situation: "The burden of debt is no longer sustainable and is
seriously stifling our poverty reduction efforts as we devote ever 30% of our
budget to debt servicing. The domestic debt burden which, until recently was
manageable, is now of great concern as it negatively impact on the interest
rate and subsequently crowd-out private sector investment in the economy."
This is perhaps Jaata's most honest statement. Explicit in the above, Jaata
is admitting the knock-on effects of Jammeh's Peter Pan economics on the real
economy as whole: The money borrowed to fund the silly Arch 22 and to line
the pockets of Jammeh and members of his Cartel is now adversely affecting
the real economy thus: "negatively impact on the interest rate and
subsequently crowd-out private sector investment in the economy" Could
someone please inform Jaata that it is payback time - as you sow so shall you
reap?
The real and principal dangers dogging after the heels of the Gambian economy
is lack of a productive base to sustain the spending spree Jammeh embarked on
in the early days and the knock-on effects they have on the declining
purchasing power of both producers and consumers thus unleashing what Milton
Friedman once memorably called "unlegislated taxation" - inflation. This
situation didn't come out of the blues: It had its roots partly in reckless
public expenditure in silly "projects" and its concomitant effects on what
Jaata labelled as "negatively impact on the interest rate and subsequently
crowd-out private sector investment in the economy." As I write this, talk is
of hyperinflation and not inflation: Prices of basic commodities had
increased by 100% and the situation is largely reminiscent of the Gambia of
1981 shortly after Kukoi's ill-fated putsch. Yet, Jaata's sodding Budget
Speech spares only a scanty four-line paragraph to such a grave concern as
inflation! This is what I read in his sodding speech: "The rate of inflation
as measured by the weighted current consumer price index (CPI) is 0.9%
between January and December 2000 compared to 3.8% 8% in 1999. The Food Drink
and Tobacco" component rose b~ t) 20/0. accounting for a 15.1% rise in the
overall index while the "Non-food" component registered a 2% rise, accounting
for 84.9% of the overall rise in the index." This deserves nomination for
understatement of the year! If we accept that Jaata is indeed right and "the
rate of inflation as measured by the weighted current consumer price index
(CPI) is 0.9% between January and December 2000", then any sane and rational
being would question why we are heading towards a situation in which we might
as well say the Gambia is on throes of experiencing hyperinflation barely a
month after we are informed that inflation stands at barely 1 percent? The
answer is quite easy. You see Jaata already informed us in that give-away and
frank statement that indeed debt servicing is making him lose sleep because
"The domestic debt burden which until recently was manageable is now of great
concern as it negatively; impact on the interest rate and subsequently
crowd-out private sector investment in the economy." So the little foreign
exchange that is circulating is in effect being gobbled up by debt servicing
Jammeh's adventures and thus depriving importers of the necessary foreign
exchange to import the basic commodities we are seeing igniting Gambia's
worst inflationary fear since the early 80's. The broadside is inescapable
here. So "Allah's World Bank" that Jammeh had such a good fortune in
discovering - which more pious Muslims never discovered - does in fact charge
punitive interests and penalties! Need anyone tell this moron that as he had
sown so shall he reap? Time has finally caught up with Jammeh and his Peter
Pan economics.
As things stand, it would not be farfetched to speculate here that to rescue
the situation, the Gambia is very likely to be thrown into a deep
recessionary and inflationary lurch - stagflation. With the Dalasi
depreciating daily against the major trading currencies, prices of basic
commodities on the rise, the economy without the productive base to
resuscitate the decline power of consumers and producers, a virtually
non-existent private sector investment, the gov't steeping further in the
debt trap and political mismanagement the order of the day - the abyss seems
not far off for the Gambia. If not, I expect another high profile APRC
mission with begging bowls to Washington, where it turns out - guess what? -
"Allah's World Bank" is really located. The joke is on them.
Hamjatta - Kanteh
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