JIS News- Jamaica’s Prime Minister, the Most Hon. Andrew Holness, says the Government’s partnership with international financial institutions such as the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) continues to play a pivotal role in the development of the country.
The Prime Minister made the remarks during a meeting with the newly appointed President of the World Bank, Ajay Banga, and President of the IDB, Ilan Goldfajn, at Jamaica House in St. Andrew on June 14.
“I am certain that you would see that Jamaica is a good steward of the resources that have been made available… in terms of loans, in terms of grants, and, certainly, in terms of the technical advice that you have given.
Jamaica is a good partner in the international financial multilateral system,” he said.
Mr. Holness noted that Jamaica, with the assistance of the World Bank, the IDB, and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), has achieved the lowering of the debt-to-gross domestic product (GDP) ratio from close to 150 per cent to approximately 80 per cent.
“It is a monumental achievement,” he pointed out.
The Prime Minster said the country will continue to work with the international financial partners to achieve the various developmental goals.
“Generally, we could say Jamaica has achieved some amount of economic stability, and this would have helped us to weather the storm of the COVID-19 pandemic and the multiple and overlapping fallouts that took place, and it would have also helped us to recover very quickly after COVID.
“We have probably the fastest recovery in this region but there are still headwinds, there are still challenges, there are still overhangs that we have to contemplate. So, we will be looking to work with our international financial partners to see how we can navigate these multiple overhanging crises, how we can take advantage of opportunities that will present themselves and how we can continue to deepen the reforms that we have undertaken,” he added, noting that the institutions have been supporting the Government in the reforms.
The Prime Minister noted, too, that the country intends to work closer with the financial institutions in the digitization thrust.
“We have been partnering with the IDB in establishing our digital identity scheme, our NIDS, so we are well on our way with that, and we intend to work even closer with the World Bank to ensure that Jamaica does become a digital society,” he said.
The Prime Minister stated that the country will also work with both institutions on poverty-reduction programs.
He noted that the Government must be deliberate and instrumental in structuring programs that will lift people out of poverty, and the World Bank and the IDB, with their experience, knowledge and resources, can assist in crafting initiatives in this regard.
Prime Minister Holness said the visits of the World Bank and the IDB Presidents send “a powerful signal, and it is received with great expectations”.
Minister of Finance and the Public Service, Dr. the Hon. Nigel Clarke, said the visits of the Presidents, at the same time, is historic and speaks to the enormous development potential of Jamaica and, importantly, the collaborative approach that the institutions will be taking in assisting Jamaica on its development journey.
Dr. Clarke said the World Bank and the IDB, together, have about three-quarter trillion US dollars of assets, indicating their financial strength, but even more valuable is “the unmatched depth of their policy experience, the breadth of their technical resources and their unique ability to convene…. the private-sector investment that we require in infrastructure, in open, transparent and competitive ways across a number of sectors”.
“[We want to] work with them on the social policy that we need across many sectors – education, social safety net, digitization and other areas,” he added.
In his remarks, Mr. Banga cited education and human capital, digitization, and resilience of the economy as some of the areas in which “we can be most helpful to Jamaica”.
For his part, Mr. Goldfajn said Jamaica has done a good job in dealing with issues such as debt reduction, fiscal consolidation and inflation.
“It is my first visit to Jamaica as an IDB President and I’m lucky to have this first visit with the President of the World Bank showing that we can do better, we can partner, and it is important to partner because what we do here is about the countries we serve,” he said.
