Finance Minister Confident of Successor Arrangement with IMF

Finance and the Public Service Minister, Hon. Audley Shaw, remains confident that the Government and International Monetary Fund (IMF) will reach an agreement on a successor arrangement for the Extended Fund Facility (EFF).

He said based on the administration’s discussions now under way with members of the IMF’s Country Team who are in the island, it is “most likely going to be what we call a Precautionary Standby Agreement”.

The Minister was speaking at Prime Asset Management Limited’s ninth Annual Pensions Seminar, held at The Jamaica Pegasus hotel, in New Kingston, on September 29.

Mr. Shaw said the new arrangement being explored would see the administration maintaining its targets of fiscal prudence and consolidation, adding that “we will have half-yearly instead of quarterly reviews”.

“The discussions are going well, and it is our intention to make sure that there is a seamless transfer from the Extended Fund Facility. We feel assured that we have our hands on the wheel and we are confident that we are going to move smoothly into a new programme with the International Monetary Fund,” the Minister said.

The seminar was jointly staged with the Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica (PSOJ), under the theme ‘Mandatory Pensions: Averting the Retirement Crisis of Tomorrow’.

It focused on exploring and discussing workable pension solutions for retirees.