Monday, November 09, 2015 | 7:21 PM

KINGSTON, Jamaica — Finance Minister Dr Peter Phillips has stoutly defended the Government’s economic reform programme under the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Phillips said Jamaica, because of the governing People’s National Party’s (PNP) relationship with the International Monetary Fund, is now in a position to borrow cheaper money.

He noted that while the last JLP administration increased Jamaica’s debt ratio by 66 per cent, the current Simpson Miller-led administration has reduced the debt ratio by 20 per cent.

Phillips also said that the lowering of interest rates in an environment of fiscal stability translates to a reduction in the cost of doing business, both for individuals and for corporate entities.

At the same time, the finance minister described Opposition spokesman on finance Audley Shaw as a “dismal failure whose cry has been that the PNP Government is only passing IMF tests and not growing the economy”. He said Shaw’s utterances are “baseless and unknowing”.

“This is all sour grapes, because Shaw and his JLP administration of 2007-2011 were dismissed by the world’s premier money-lending organisation and lost its relationship with the IMF after only their first two quarterly reviews, due to