BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, October 17, 2016 – The Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) is providing Jamaica with a technical assistance (TA) grant to strengthen the capacity of the country’s Ministry of Finance. The funding will help to support Jamaica in the ongoing implementation of their Economic Reform Programme, under which critical macroeconomic and structural reforms are being undertaken with the objective of stabilizing the economy and setting the stage for inclusive economic growth.
The Government of Jamaica has identified a need to bolster the Ministry of Finance’s technical expertise in fiscal and macroeconomic policy that supports the country’s reforms under its homegrown structural adjustment programme. The programme is aided and assisted by the IMF and other development partners including CDB, the Inter-American Development Bank, the World Bank, and the European Union.
The TA grant of USD400,000, approved by CDB’s Board of Directors last week, will help to:
strengthen the MOF management team’s capabilities to guide the implementation of critical reforms to support the achievement of key medium-term macroeconomic results;
provide technical advice to the Minister of Finance and, by extension, the Cabinet on macroeconomic policy issues in general and, specifically, on how best to achieve the goals and objectives of GOJ’s reform programme; and
enhance relevant skills of technical staff within MOF through training and transfer of expertise and knowledge.
Director, Economics at CDB, Dr. Justin Ram, notes that the Bank attaches particular importance to the transfer of expertise and knowledge within strategic institutions, such as the finance ministry.
“The transfer of knowledge and expertise will help to up-skill relevant managerial and technical staff. This will contribute to improved capacity for strategic policy formulation, management and coordination. Through this grant, the Government of Jamaica will benefit from enhanced policy advice; and increased technical capability to effectively facilitate the implementation of fiscal and structural reforms in particular, and economic development policies in general,” Ram said.