Jamaica get IDB loan

WASHINGTON (CMC) – The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) has approved a US$31.6 million loan to improve the efficiency of the Jamaican public sector by strengthening the capacity of the government in several areas.
Yesterday, the Washington-based financial institution said the loan will help the government’s efforts to improve in the areas of human resource management, information and communications technologies management and control systems and accountability mechanisms.
The loan, which supports the strategic goals of Jamaica’s ongoing stabilization programme, came on the same day that the World Bank approved a US $130.0 million economic stabilization loan for the country.
“The objective of the project is to support the Government of Jamaica’s implementation of a set of policy and institutional reforms to increase competitiveness and improve fiscal management,” said the World Bank in a statement, stating that Jamaica’s most pressing challenge is its debt.
The IDB said the Government of Jamaica has identified results in human capital management systems, institutional strengthening of information and communications systems and modernization of budget control systems as “high priorities given their significant potential for efficiency gains and long-term budget savings.
“These reforms are expected to contribute to the government’s ambitious fiscal consolidation program over the next four years,” the IDB said.
Among other outputs, the programme expects to train 1 200 government employees in new procurement curricula, the implementation of new E-tendering software, establishing a new technical office to enhance the oversight role of parliament and training more auditors, the IDB said.