Jamaica Secures 3Yr US$6.7Bn Package for Melissa Recovery and Reconstruction

  • Following Hurricane Melissa and at the request of Jamaican Prime Dr. Minister Andrew Holness, CAF – Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean, the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB), the Inter-American Development Bank Group (IDB Group), the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank Group (WBG) have jointly assembled a comprehensive package of up to US$6.7Bn over three years to strengthen Jamaica’s recovery and reconstruction efforts.
  • This coordinated effort reflects a unified commitment to help Jamaica pursue a fiscally responsible, long-term recovery through a combination of emergency preparedness financing, sovereign financing, grant support and private sector investments. The announcement comes ahead of the call Prime Minister Holness will hold with representatives from the international financial institutions to discuss implementation plans.
  • Jamaica’s robust disaster risk financing framework enabled a rapid flow of funds to meet urgent response needs. This framework facilitated an immediate inflow of critical liquidity to supplement the Government’s own contingency resources, for a total of US$662Mn1.
  • With damages estimated at US$8.8Bn, recovery will require significant resources and long-term investments. Comprehensive recovery planning is already underway, focusing on critical priorities and reinforcing Jamaica’s resilience. CAF, CDB, IDB Group, IMF and WBG are working closely with the Government of Jamaica (GOJ) and other partners to support this process. 
  • To that end, a new financial support package of up to US$3.6Bn could be made available to finance the Government’s recovery and reconstruction program over the next three years, comprising:
    1. CAF: up to US$1Bn for priority areas identified by the GOJ.
    2. CDB: up to US$200Mn in financing in priority areas identified by the GOJ, including resilient national and community infrastructure, and small business support.
    3. IDB: up to US$1Bn in sovereign financing in priority areas where its technical expertise and long-standing engagement can have a sustained impact.
    4. IMF: Jamaica has requested access under the large natural disaster window of the Rapid Financing Instrument (RFI), which could amount to a loan of up to US$415Mn.
    5. World Bank: up to US$1Bn in sovereign financing, including budget support, partial risk guarantees and investment projects in critical sectors.
  • To ensure Jamaica’s recovery is effective, resilient and informed by global best practices, the five institutions are also providing technical assistance and policy advisory services that draw on global experience and best practices in disaster response. So far, US$12Mn in grants has already been mobilised from the IDB, the WBG and CAF, with more to come.  

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1This included US$37Mn from its Contingency Fund and National Natural Disaster Reserve Fund, US$91Mn from the Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility (CCRIF), US$150Mn from the WBG Catastrophe Bond, US$300Mn available from the IDB’s Contingent Credit Facility (CCF) and US$42Mn (scalable to US$84Mn) available upon request under the World Bank Group’s Catastrophe Deferred Drawdown Option (Cat DDO).

(Source: International Monetary Fund)