THE Jamaican Government, which is already grappling with the fall-out from the global food crisis and rising oil prices, yesterday appealed to the parliamentary Opposition not to mislead the country in terms of the nature of the problems as the country faces a 22 per cent inflation rate.

"Let no one misunderstand the severity of the global pressure, and I could offer some advice, which is not offered gratuitously, let no one seek to mislead the country about the nature of the crisis we are now facing," Prime Minister Bruce Golding told the House of Representatives yesterday during a debate on a motion to withdraw $620 million from the bauxite levy-fed Capital Development Fund (CDF).

The Opposition's spokesman on finance, Dr Omar Davies, suggested that the Government was wrong to have predicated the current budget on an eight to nine per cent inflation rate and suggested a recalibration of the estimates.

"That could not hold, and if you are going to build a credible budget around an assumption which all indicators pointed to could not hold, you are setting yourself up for failure," said Davies, a former finance minister.

"I sincerely hope your technicians have already embarked on that task to start recalibrating, because you're going to have an interest payment in excess of what you have anticipated," Davies added.

Golding, however, insisted that while the period is a challenging one, with the global situation being the worst in 50 years and exerting significant pressures on the economy, the Government was determined to maintain its fiscal profile.

"We are determined because we have no choice but to maintain confidence in our macro-economic programme," the prime minister said.

He said that confidence was responsible for the fact the country was able to raise US$350 million in the market last week at a 'good rate."

"We are determined to maintain the fiscal programme that we have outlined in the budget. It is absolutely important to do so because for us to fail on that account has consequences that the market will impose on us that are more bizarre than I would want to contemplate at this time," Golding added.

He said that in the last 12 months prices had more than doubled globally, and Jamaica had imported the products, as
well as the inflation, because of its vulnerability in so many respects.

The Government, said the prime minister, has been using its influence to keep prices as stable as possible, and he told the House that the Ministry of Industry, Investments and Commerce holds daily dialogue with the trade.

Golding said, too, that his Government was discussing other measures to contain food prices, in addition to promoting increased agricultural production.

The $620 million from the CDF, which will be shared between the Development Bank of Jamaica (DBJ), $500,000, and the Jamaica Bauxite Institute for budgetary support, was approved by the House.