Finance Minister and GOJ Delegation Return from Annual IMF/World Bank Spring Meetings

The Honourable Audley Shaw, Minister of Finance and the Public Service, State Minister Fayval Williams, and technical teams from the Ministry and the Bank of Jamaica returned from Washington, DC on Monday after holding a series of meetings with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank (WB) and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).

Minister Shaw and his technical team met with the IDB President, Mr. Luis Alberto Moreno, the Managing Director of the World Bank Group, Ms. Sri Mulyani and IMF Deputy Managing Director, Mr. Zhu Min. The Finance Minister stressed that the GOJ is committed to the economic programme under The Extended Fund Facility (EFF) agreed on with the IMF.

Minister Shaw advised that all quantitative and structural quarterly benchmarks for December were met and indications are that all targets for the March 2016 quarter were met.

In May, an IMF mission will arrive in the island to review both quarters since they were not able to conduct a December review in February due to the General Elections.

While in Washington, Shaw signaled Jamaica’s intention to continue to work closely with the IMF and other multilateral institutions. A wide range of issues including financing as well as technical assistance in the areas of tax reform, public sector reform, energy reform, and other Government initiatives were discussed.

The technical teams included Devon Rowe, Financial Secretary, Brian Wynter, Governor of Bank of Jamaica, Dr. Nigel Clarke, National Policy Advisor, Office of the Prime Minister, Dr. Wayne Robinson, Division Chief, Bank of Jamaica and Mrs. Hillary Robertson, Technical Assistant, Office of the Minister of Finance and the Public Service.