Minister Williams Affirms Focus On Fiscal Discipline, Infrastructure Development

Finance and Public Service Minister, Hon. Fayval Williams, highlighted the  Government’s focus on maintaining fiscal discipline and to continue to develop the  country’s infrastructure, during the 2025 Spring Meetings of the World Bank Group and the  International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Washington DC this week.

Roads, water systems and climate resilience initiatives were the main topic of  discussion during high-level meetings with the multi-lateral partners.

“Of course, in speaking with entities like the World Bank and the IADB (Inter-American Development Bank) it’s regarding the programmes that are of interest to us in terms of investment programmes for roads, water resilience and climate resilience,” she said, noting Jamaica’s determination to transform international financial partnerships into concrete improvements for its citizens.

“We remain committed to our debt-to-GDP (gross domestic product) targets, our fiscal targets and ensuring fiscal prudence in Jamaica,” she affirmed.

The annual Spring Meetings of the IMF and the World Bank Group bring together central bankers, ministers of finance and development, private sector executives, civil society representatives, and academics from 191 countries to discuss the state of the global economy and issues of international concern, such as the growth outlook, financial stability, and poverty reduction.

This year’s meetings,  from April 21 to 26, come amid significant global economic uncertainty, which Minister Williams acknowledged.

“Jamaica is a very open, very connected nation to the rest of the world, and so we have to be extremely mindful of the impact of what’s going on in the rest of the world on us,” she said.

She is accompanied by a team which includes Financial Secretary, Darlene Morrison and Deputy Financial Secretary for the Economic Management Division, Dian Black; Bank of Jamaica Governor, Richard Byles and Deputy Governor, Wayne Robinson; and Director General of the Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ), Dr. Wayne Henry.

Beyond the meetings with the multilateral development banks, the delegation’s packed agenda includes discussions with United States (US) congressional representatives and fellow Caribbean finance ministers.

Minister Williams said she expects that this week will prove to be  beneficial in terms of “the commitments that we will be able to strengthen here”.