Michael Lee Chin Newly Appointed Government Of Jamaica Economic Growth Council Czar Endorses IMF Strictures As He Aspires For Economic Growth – Vincent Samuels

Hon. Michael Lee Chin, O.J., Jamaican-Canadian Billionaire Entrepreneur, Chairman Portland Holdings, Chairman National commercial Bank Jamaica Limited and newly appointed Chairman of the Government of Jamaica Economic Growth Council, has expressed the view that notwithstanding strictures that comes with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Programme in Jamaica, he has endorsed the institution as necessary.

Speaking in a recent interview with a Gleaner Writer, the newly appointed Economic Growth Council Czar in endorsing IMF strictures said the IMF was necessary and he stressed that economic growth was also possible at the same time. In explaining how this could be done, Lee Chin said that an individual could be disciplined and still grows. Lee Chin went on to emphasize that if one is going to grow, one has to be disciplined.

Mentioning the fact that although the people in Jamaica had to import strictures to put on ourselves because we did not do it on our own, Lee Chin said what IMD strictures ultimately did is that it did focus our attention on targets.

Noting that Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth in Jamaica is currently less than one per cent, Lee Chin emphasized that GDP growth in Jamaica has been less than 0.2 per cent over the last ten years. The aspirational goal of the Economic Growth Council Lee Chin said, is for Jamaica to realize GDP of five per cent over the next four years.

DEFINING GROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCT (GDP)

From a microeconomic perspective, Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is a measure of the size of an economy. It is roughly speaking, the money value of all the goods and services that is produced in a country in a year.

WHO IS MICHAEL LEE CHIN?

After being born under poor conditions in Port Antonio, Jamaica West Indies in 1951 when no one in his family had ever attended high school; migrating to Canada to pursue engineering after he graduated from Excelsior High School, Michael Lee Chin (self-made businessman), pursued business career selling investments and competing with Royal Bank of Canada and other large business conglomerates in Canada.