IMF staff concludes visit to Jamaica

 

• An International Monetary Fund (IMF) staff team led by Uma Ramakrishnan visited Kingston from June 10 to 14, 2019, ahead of the sixth and final review under the SBA planned for September 2019. At the end of the visit, Ramakrishnan issued the following statement:
• “Jamaica’s improved economic growth in FY2018/19 was buoyed by construction and mining. Unemployment is now at an all-time low of 8%, inflation outturn was 3.9% YoY in April, closer to BOJ’s target range. The primary surplus was almost 7½ % of GDP in FY2018/19, and public debt fell to 95% of GDP at end-March 2019. Non-borrowed reserves were US$430Mn above target at end-March 2019, providing a critical buffer against unforeseen global economic shocks.”
• “The IMF welcomes the recent BOJ’s accommodative policies aimed at restoring inflation to the target range. The reduction in the Cash Reserve Requirement by 5 ppts this year and the successive policy rate cuts to 0.75% should support private credit expansion as the government continues to deleverage”.

(Source: IMF)