I realise that Finance Minister, Dr. Omar Davies, thought I was just being a general pain in the neck all these years, because this column has vehemently disagreed with his financial policies, and made no bones about it.

Despite the experience of the last five years, however, I still have the capacity to be shocked by the stunningly ludicrous. Again and again, policies enunciated by the Finance Minister and the consequences of them have left me breathless.

Throughout this long, stressful period for all, he and his PNP Government have steadfastly maintained that the Jamaican economy was on track and that growth was around the corner. There was going to be no change of economic direction therefore, the administration repeatedly said, nor would there be any change in policies since these were bearing fruit.

Now Dr. Davies has suddenly changed his tune. Here is the song he's singing now, though still woefully out of tune:

"So that's one reality (9/11 and its effects on tourism) that we have to face and whichever party forms the next Government, the issue is how do we carve out a bigger slice of the pie, which is not growing at the rate we anticipated in the tourism sector."

The Finance Minister has therefore finally conceded at last that the Jamaican economy is not growing and its prospects have worsened considerably, but blames it entirely on a tourism fall-out.

This ugly affair of needing bigger slices from pies that are not growing is therefore to be blamed upon the dreadful tragedy of the 11th of September last year in New York City and the subsequent decline in international air traffic. This assertion is demonstrably false.

The cataclysmic event of 9/11 happened only last year in 2001. Where was the growth in Jamaica therefore, between the years 1994 and 2000? Where are the financial surpluses racked up from these years of so-called "solid achievement" and tremendous economic management by this P.J. Patterson-Omar Davies-Peter Phillips PNP administration?

If there was no growth in the Jamaican economy to withstand a downturn in tourism, a sector that is known to experience significant downturns from time to time, then this Government is guilty of bad economic management. The rest of the world including the United States, was booming non-stop for a decade before 9/11. The reality is that Jamaica did not boom, and 9/11 doesn't have a thing to do with that. Nor is it the cause of our current national debt of J$570 billion and growing.

Jamaica did not boom over the last eight years because the PNP Government embarked upon a programme of squandering the country's resources and wanton spending. All the while tightening the fiscal and monetary screws on the people of Jamaica. Banks collapsed, businesses went bust, thousands upon thousands of people were made redundant, economic activity shrank and violent crime exploded. And none of this had anything to do with 9/11.

Nor indeed did it have a single thing to do with Portia Simpson Miller, who streamlined and structured the farm work programme as Minister of Labour, protected poor people's pensions in the National Insurance Scheme as though it were her own, and for her trouble was rewarded with the Ministry of Tourism a few years ago, and no budget. Indeed on the subject of the Ministry of Tourism's budget Dr. Omar Davies in his capacity as Minister of Finance said "...significant players in the (tourism) industry opined that if the money were properly spent, there would be no need for any more".

Readers should remember that when 9/11 struck last year, Prime Minister Patterson set up a Task Force headed by Dr. Carlton Davis, Omar's brother, to determine this country's response. On this task force sat the industry players, the so-called "significant players", and it was they who determined how the US$13 million of emergency funds provided for Jamaica tourism should be spent.

Now that the Finance Minister has finally conceded that tough times lie ahead, I must say that the efforts of the captains of the industry have left me distinctly underwhelmed.

The Government and country would have been better off letting Mrs. Simpson Miller run her own Ministry. Her action in placing the investigation of JTB New York in the hands of the Auditor-General cannot have been pleasing either, since it ensures constitutionally that the entire report must be tabled in the House of Represen-tatives. She may not hike her skirt, but it would be foolish to expect her to cover up anything for anybody.

Dr. Davies on the other hand has made covering up the economic crisis his own peculiar speciality.

The Bank of Jamaica (BOJ) reported last Thursday that it was now losing over $2 billion. Dr. Davies doesn't think that's a problem for Jamaica though, only 9/11. The Jamaican dollar itself, notwithstanding interest rates increasing again together with innumerable interventions in the foreign exchange market by the BOJ, is still back over 49.

At the end of August this year the PNP's so-called "solid achievement" of Net International Reserves (NIR) stood at US$1.685 billion. Earlier this year in March the NIR stood at US$1.941 billion. Thus, despite the Government raising US$100 million net on the international market in June, the NIR has now fallen by over US$356 million. At this rate of decline that "solid achievement" is very shaky indeed.

Even Dr. Davies must be able to see that for himself, although he'd rather not talk about it. Instead he said at a recent breakfast presentation that the downturn in tourism is also impacting on agriculture and manufacturing. These sectors crashed however, long before two aeroplanes flew into the twin towers of the World Trade Center. He must think we're all foolish and endlessly gullible. Anyway, that was the reason he gave for what he also describes as the PNP Government being challenged to provide either foreign exchange earnings or employment in the country.

Dr. Davies' explanation is patently ludicrous, but I suppose we ought to be relieved that he's finally admitted that Jamaica is in deep, deep trouble. Seriously alarming, however, is that as Finance Minister he thinks he can get a bigger slice out of a pie that isn't growing.