The Jamaican economy is in a deep recession. There is significant loss of revenues from bauxite, tourism and remittances, and the huge debt which is still climbing, is more than a burden on our people. Thousands of jobs have been lost in the private sector, with impending job cuts in the public sector. One shudders to think what would be the likely scenario today if our financial institutions had collapsed under the weight of the global recession.

We are still in the midst of a global recession which resulted in the collapse of a number of America's banking giants and even some Swiss banks lost billions of dollars. Our financial institutions, however, have remained stable and viable and with some making huge profits. The reasons for this stability have been attributed to new legislation regulating the banking sector in the aftermath of the financial sector collapse or meltdown of the '90s.

Enquiry long overdue

The FINSAC enquiry into this collapse was long overdue. The facts need to be exposed and lessons learnt. There were many who were adversely affected in the '90s. Businesses and enterprises were wiped out and many livelihoods and lives were destroyed, and today many are still hurting. Life is living in fulfilling expectations, as we live and learn from our experiences. It is not my prerogative to declare that the financial sector meltdown of the '90s was a blessing in disguise. What, however, remains one of the undisputed ironies of life is: Good judgments come from bad experiences and our best judgments from the worst experiences.

I am, etc.,

Dr Daive R Facey

dr.facey@gmail.com