Jamaica government signs US$500 million agreement with IDB
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| Published on Wednesday, December 3, 2008 |
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By Oscar Ramjeet
Caribbean Net News Special Correspondent
Email: oscar@caribbeannetnews.com
KINGSTON, Jamaica: Jamaica has signed an agreement with the Inter-American Development Bank for a US$500 million liquidity support programme for commercial banks.
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| Jamaica's Minister without Portfolio in the Ministry of Finance and the Public Service, Senator Don Wehby. JIS Photo |
Minister without Portfolio in the Finance Ministry, Senator Don Wehby, who made the announcement in the Senate, said that the agreement would allow for local financial institutions to access money to be offered in loans for the production sector.
The Jamaica Gleaner reported that Wehby said that money for businessmen had dried up because of the global financial crisis and that this agreement would give them an opportunity to access cash.
"It's going to be a huge, huge plus for the commercial banks, so we can get the wheels turning again," Wehby said, adding the first disbursement would be made very early in the new year.
Meanwhile, the Jamaica Gleaner reported that the Senate has approved a resolution to increase the loan ceiling from $700 billion to $920 billion. The House of Representatives had endorsed the request on October 7.
In supporting the resolution, Wehby said that the increase in the loan ceiling would help the Government fulfil its programmed borrowing in the medium term.
Opposition Senator, Mark Golding said that the need to increase the loan ceiling indicated a serious concern with the debt problem in Jamaica.
"The country is definitely struggling with the debt that it's carrying," he said while referring to a recent report by the Caribbean and Information and Credit Rating Services Limited - The Caribbean's first ratings agency. "Jamaica is probably going to be more challenged than any other of its Caribbean neighbours to deal with the economic times that we are facing."
Jamaica has a $1.034 trillion debt and, according to the Gleaner, at present, 54 cents out of each public expenditure dollar goes toward serving the country's debt. | | | | Reads : 479 |
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