Jamaican PM Holness meets with World Bank team

Prime Minister of Jamaica Andrew Holness, along with Ministers Clarke, Johnson Smith, Shaw, and Williams, participated in a high-level meeting with representatives from World Bank.

Thursday, 22nd July 2021

Jamaica: Prime Minister of Jamaica Andrew Holness, along with Ministers Clarke, Johnson Smith, Shaw, and Williams, participated in a high-level meeting with representatives from World Bank. Notably, The World Bank team was led by Mr Carlos Felipe Jaramillo, Regional Vice President, Latin America & the Caribbean Region; Ms. Lilia Burunciuc, Country Director for Caribbean countries; Mr Ozan Sevimli, Resident Representative for Guyana & Jamaica and Ms. Judith Green, Country Manager for the Caribbean, International Finance Corporation were also witnessed there. "Jamaica and the World Bank have had a very strong and impactful relationship which has yielded many great outcomes. " PM Holness said. [caption id="attachment_36204" align="alignnone" width="960"]

Glimpses of meeting shared by PM Holness[/caption] He added, "We are happy for the continued partnership with the World Bank to pursue development in multiple areas across our country." Recently, The World Bank (International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, or IBRD) priced a catastrophe bond that will give the Government of Jamaica with financial protection of up to the US $185 million against losses from named storms for 3 Atlantic tropical cyclone seasons ending in December 2023. In addition, Jamaica is the 1st government in the Caribbean region also the first of any small island state to autonomously sponsor a catastrophe bond, popularly known as a cat bond. Moreover, Jamaica was one of the 16 countries in the Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility that availed from IBRD’s first-ever cat bond in 2014. According to World Bank, The bonds were issued under IBRD’s “capital at risk” notes program, which can be used to convey risks related to natural disasters and other risks from developing nations to the capital markets. Payouts to Jamaica would be triggered when a named storm event meets the parametric criteria for location & severity set 4th in the bond terms. [caption id="attachment_36205" align="alignnone" width="960"]

Pic shared by PM Holness[/caption] The transaction comprises an innovative reporting feature resulting in a quick payout calculation within weeks of a qualifying named storm. It is also the 1st cat bond to use an innovative cat-in-a grid parametric trigger design for tropical cyclone risk.