Source: Radio Jamaica News
Jamaica is set to receive US$253 million from the International Monetary Fund.
This comes after the third review under the country’s Precautionary and Liquidity Line (PLL) and the Resilience and Sustainability Facility (RSF).
The IMF says the completion of the third reviews makes available the remaining US$253 million for immediate disbursement to Jamaica under the Resilience and Sustainability Facility (RSF).
The fund released a statement looking at the third review of the RSF and the Precautionary and Liquidity Line.
The IMF says the RSF has supported Jamaica’s ambitious agenda to make the economy more resilient to climate change, including reforms to accelerate the transition to renewables, increase resilience to climate change and enhance the climate focus in policy frameworks.
It says all RSF reform measures were met, comprising the analysis of climate-related fiscal risks, incentives for renewable energy, reporting requirements of climate risks for financial institutions, and a framework for green-bond issuance.
The IMF also says US$964 million under the the PPL is still available, and the authorities continue to treat it as precautionary.
It says the PLL has supported Jamaica’s efforts to enhance financial supervision, crisis resolution and AML/CFT frameworks and the programme performance has remained strong.
The IMF says Jamaica continues to meet the PLL qualification criteria.
In the review of both facilities, the IMF says Jamaica’s response to recent shocks has strengthened the credibility of the country’s fiscal and monetary policy framework .
It also credits Jamaica for its sustained economic growth in the last financial year which ended March, and lower unemployment.
The fund notes that inflation has returned to the Bank of Jamaica’s target range of 4 to 6 per cent.
The fund says going forward, Gross Domestic Product growth is expected to continue, and inflation should return to the middle of the target band.
It notes however Hurricane Beryl’s threat to medium term price stability.
But, there are risks to the outlook arising from potential global economic and financial shocks, along with natural disasters.
The IMF says some of these risks may be tempered by Jamaica’s strong policy frameworks, along with “the authorities’ track record for managing shocks.
Guided by the government’s Medium-Term Fiscal Framework, the IMF says public debt is expected to fall below 60 per cent of GDP, by the financial year 2027/28.
The PLL and the RSF were approved in March 2023, and provide a combined US$1.73 billion in support.
THE AUTHOR: Radio Jamaica Staff
