$102 Billion Set Aside For Domestic Debt

The Ministry of Finance and Planning has set aside a sum of $102 billion for the repayment of domestic debt during the 2004/05 fiscal year.
This is contained in the Estimates of Expenditure, now before the House of Representatives.
Of the total, more than $97 billion will go towards the redemption of securities including Local Registered Stock (LRS) issued to cover losses incurred by the Bank of Jamaica (BoJ) up to 1994/95 and for liquidity management purposes; special issues of LRS in respect of Government’s intervention in the financial sector through FINSAC; and debt instruments either denominated and payable in United States (US) dollars, or indexed to the US dollar rate of exchange, issued on the local market.
In addition, $1.8 billion will be used to repay institutional loans including those for deferred financing projects raised from commercial banks; $3 billion to meet principal payments arising out of the invocation of Government guarantees on internal debt; while $5 million will go towards sinking fund contributions. The Sinking Fund was established for the redemption of LRS. Contributions to the fund represent a percentage of the stocks issued and are invested in interest bearing Government securities.
Meanwhile, $30 billion has been set aside for overseas loan payments including $13.7 billion for repayment of Euro 175 million bond issue at 10.5 per cent and due August 2004.
A provision of $2.2 billion has been made for the repayment of loans by commercial banks to finance infrastructure development and air transport projects and for the supply of goods and services including buses and other equipment.
In addition, a sum of $7.6 billion is due to Government and Government bodies in respect of balance of payment support and projects for infrastructure and social development, while $6.4 billion will go towards loans from multilateral and international bodies such as the Inter American Development Bank (IBD) and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD).