JAMAICA | JA making Economic Progress says IMF Review - $255-million available for draw down

Washington, DC : August 31, 2023 - The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has completed the first reviews of the Precautionary and Liquidity Line (PLL) and the Resilience and Sustainability Facility (RSF) arrangement. 

The completion of the RSF review makes available the equivalent of SDR191.45 million (about US$255 million) under the under the RSF. 

Access to the PLL equivalent to SDR 459.48 million (about US$611 million) is available after completion of this review. The authorities continue to treat the PLL as precautionary.

Jamaica has continued to make progress in enhancing fiscal, financial, AML/CFT policy frameworks, and data adequacy, and is implementing the ambitious climate policy agenda to support economic growth. 

These policies are supported by the PLL and RSF arrangements, which were approved on March 1, 2023, in an amount equivalent to SDR 727.51 million (about US$968 million) or 190 percent of quota, and SDR 574.35 million (about US$764 million) or 150 percent of quota, respectively.

Following the Executive Board’s discussion, Ms. Antoinette Monsio Sayeh, Deputy Managing Director and Acting Chair of the Board, issued the following statement:

“Jamaica continues to make significant progress in strengthening its policy frameworks and implementing an ambitious climate policy agenda, supported by the Precautionary and Liquidity Line (PLL) and the Resilience and Sustainability Facility (RSF) Arrangement.

“Entrenched macroeconomic stability and sound policy frameworks continue to support economic growth, allowing Jamaica to navigate a complex global environment. A large primary fiscal surplus continues to support a strong downward trajectory of public debt, the financial system remains well capitalized, liquid, and stable, and inflation is converging to the midpoint of the Bank of Jamaica’s target band.

“Important progress has been made on the fiscal reform agenda, including the reform of the public wage structure to eliminate distortions in the salary scale and to retain skilled workers, and improvements in the fiscal policy framework.

“The authorities continue their efforts to improve financial supervision and to bring the AML/CFT framework to international best practices. Moving forward, efforts should focus on demonstrating the AML/CFT framework’s effectiveness in line with the action plan agreed with FATF. They also remain committed to improve data adequacy and have defined a roadmap to subscribe to the SDDS by mid-2025.

“The authorities are advancing their ambitious climate policy agenda to increase resilience to climate change and green the economy. Reforms include the adoption of a disaster risk financing policy, the addition of climate requirements to the framework for private public partnerships, the approval of an electric vehicle policy and the issuance of guidelines for energy efficiency in public buildings, schools, and hospitals.

“Climate-oriented reforms of the fiscal framework, incentives for investments in renewables and the greening of the financial system can foster investor confidence and catalyze private climate financing.”

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