KINGSTON, Jamaica, July 7, CMC – The Opposition Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) has urged the Portia Simpson Miller led administration to devise a plan for shocks that could jeoparise the deal currently in place with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
During Friday’s sitting of the Upper House, Opposition Senator, Dr. Christopher Tufton moved a motion stating that the government needs to examine how natural disasters may affect its ability to retain IMF funding.
“I refer to natural disasters – primarily hurricanes and droughts, but also some manmade catastrophes which I believe should have been included as part if this plan with the International Monetary Fund and other multinational partners.”
Tufton recommended that an annual budgetary allocation be put in place to deal with external shocks.
“If we plan and coordinate in a more efficient way to deal with these external variables, natural disasters in particular, we can minimize the risks that we have suffered, first of all we don’t need to reinvent the wheel. There are models out there that we need to emulate and adopt, we need to put this on the agenda as a matter of priority,” Tufton said.
In May 2013, the IMF approved Jamaica’s application for a four-year extended fund facility.
The agreement unlocked more than US$1 billion of loan support from the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank.
