Jamaica Faces Complex Situation Under Risk Insurance Facility

Prime Minister, the Hon. Bruce Golding says the government is faced with a complex situation as it relates to donor countries responding to Jamaica’s needs at this time, under the Caribbean Catastrophic Risk Insurance Facility (CCRIF).
Mr. Golding was addressing a press conference on September 28, at Jamaica House, to update the nation on actions being taken by the government to address the devastation across the island, caused by heavy rains associated with Tropical Storm Nicole.
“The intensity of the rainfall that we are having appears to be even more rainfall than we have had with some hurricanes that have hit us, and the damage is going to be extensive, but because it’s not a hurricane, we are not able to claim under our catastrophic insurance fund, for which we have to pay significant premiums each year,” Mr. Golding said.
The Prime Minister pointed out that because the country had not experienced a hurricane, donor countries are unlikely to respond with emergency assistance, and therefore the government may have to look at existing programmes that it has with these countries, to see how these can best be redirected to address the situation.
The CCRIF is a risk pooling facility, owned and operated in the region for Caribbean governments. It is designed to limit the financial impact of catastrophic hurricanes and earthquakes to Caribbean governments by immediately providing short term liquidity when a policy is triggered.
The facility was developed through funding from the Japanese government, and was capitalised through contributions to a multi-donor Trust Fund by the European Union, the Government of Canada, the Caribbean Development Bank, the World Bank, the governments of the United Kingdom and France, and the governments of Ireland and Bermuda. Membership fees are also paid by participating governments. Jamaica is among the 16 governments that are currently members of the CCRIF.