World Bank approves US$70m to support Jamaica’s fiscal resilience

The World Bank Board on Thursday approved US$70 million in budget support financing to Jamaica to support the country’s reform programme and efforts to strengthen and accelerate recent gains in fiscal consolidation and sustainable growth.

The First Economic Resilience Development Policy Loan (ERDPL I) aims to assist Jamaica to advance its economic reform agenda, while at the identical time protecting the poor and vulnerable, including from natural disaster risks.

“Jamaica’s authorities have shown the commitment needed to keep up macroeconomic stability and demonstrated significant progress, including major reduction publicly debt,” said Ozan Sevimli, World Bank Resident Representative for Jamaica. “These efforts will contribute to strengthening the country’s capacity to deal with the threats of natural disasters and public health crises.”

The operation is meant around three interrelated pillars to deal with the foremost critical economic challenges Jamaica faces: strengthening fiscal sustainability and inclusion; enhancing monetary and financial resilience against climate and natural disaster risks; and improving the investment climate for sustainable growth.

The first pillar helps strengthen institutional mechanisms for greater fiscal responsibility while also increasing the effectiveness and sustainability of the social protection system within a sustainable budgetary envelope. The second pillar supports measures to confirm that resources are available within the budget to deal with climate and natural disaster-related shocks adequately.

Meanwhile, the third pillar improves policies to strengthen the resilience of Jamaica’s infrastructure to multiple sorts of disaster risk, including reforms to land titling and the applying approval process for development and building permits, furthermore as promoting the effective management and sustainable development of fisheries.

The International Bank finances the US$70 million budget support operation for Reconstruction and Development. The loan features a maturity of 24 years and a grace period of six years.