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Joint Statement by Jamaica Prime Minister Holness and World Bank Country Director for the Caribbean Sophie Sirtaine


Joint Statement by Jamaica Prime Minister Holness and World Bank Country Director for the Caribbean Sophie Sirtaine

Prime Minister Andrew Holness and World Bank Country Director Sophie Sirtaine opened today a high-level brainstorming session on growth strategies and debt management with members of the Cabinet, senior officials, international experts and policymakers. In her opening remarks, Sophie Sirtaine congratulated Jamaica for the progress made and reaffirmed the World Bank’s commitment to support the country in pursuing its ambitious agenda of pro-growth reforms.

Recent reforms to address persistent fiscal and debt issues, combined with measures to improve the investment climate, have started to restore confidence in the Jamaican economy. Jamaica is also advancing on key strategic investments in the energy, logistics, agribusiness, ICT, creative industries, and tourism sectors. These investments are critical to unlock economic competitiveness.

At the request of Prime Minister Holness, the World Bank brought leading experts and international policymakers including the World Bank Chief Economist for Latin America and the Caribbean Augusto de la Torre, former Governor of the Central Bank of Chile Jose de Gregorio, Seychelles Governor of the Central Bank Caroline Abel, former Minister of Finance of Latvia Andris Wilks, former Minister of trade of Costa Rica Alberto Trejos, and former World Bank Vice President for Financial and Private Sector Development Janamitra Devan, to share experiences and best practices from other countries that have faced similar challenges and had successful economic turnaround.

The focus of the discussion will also be looking at how to deliver results; and what are the best strategies to manage debt.

Building on key strengths, Jamaica is looking at new opportunities and strategies to promote sustainable and inclusive growth.  The World Bank looks forward to deepening its engagement and providing innovative solutions for growth and debt reduction.

 

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The WBG is providing Jamaica with half a billion dollars ($US 510 million over 2013 – 2017) to support the implementation of the comprehensive package of reforms introduced by the Government with the IMF Extended Fund Facility.