KINGSTON – The fi­nance min­is­ter of debt-bur­dened Ja­maica says ne­go­ti­a­tions to forge a new agree­ment with the In­ter­na­tion­al Mon­e­tary Fund are near­ly com­plete.

But Pe­ter Philips says there must be a frame­work for tax­es, pub­lic sec­tor wages and oth­er mat­ters be­fore a deal is fi­nalised.

Philips de­clined to pro­vide many specifics at a press brief­ing yes­ter­day, but said there must be "sac­ri­fice from all sec­tors of the so­ci­ety" to achieve eco­nom­ic sta­bil­i­ty.

Prime Min­is­ter Por­tia Simp­son Miller's gov­ern­ment has been crit­i­cised for not keep­ing cit­i­zens bet­ter in­formed of the sta­tus of the IMF bar­gain­ing.

Yes­ter­day, she said the Cab­i­net re­cent­ly signed off on all fis­cal con­sol­i­da­tion mat­ters to forge a new IMF deal. She says the Cab­i­net is de­ter­mined to pro­tect the most vul­ner­a­ble Ja­maicans while pur­su­ing eco­nom­ic growth. (AP)