Finance and Public Service Minister, Dr Nigel Clarke, has announced that the government is taking steps to ensure that the country is able to withstand the effects of natural disasters in the post-International Monetary Fund (IMF) era.
“Jamaica has done too much work and made too many sacrifices to leave us completely exposed (…) to the potential fiscal impact of natural disaster,” Clarke said.
Jamaica ended its borrowing relationship with the IMF in 2016 and entered into a precautionary Stand-by Arrangement with the multilateral that will end in 2019.
But, like the rest of the region, Jamaica is vulnerable to natural disasters and the country is often forced to find billions of dollars to recover from devastating hurricanes. This often places significant pressure on the national budget.