Natural-Disaster Risk Financing Ensured Swift Recovery from Severe Weather Events – Minister Williams

The Government’s implementation of national natural-disaster risk financing with the many layers of “shock absorbers” ensured the country’s swift recovery from recent severe weather events, says Minister of Finance and the Public Service, Hon. Faval Williams.

“Had this Government not had the foresight to ensure that we had this multi-layered risk-absorbing facility in place, we would not have been able to do the emergency repairs to public infrastructure, clean up and relief effort activities, as well as social expenditure to assist the indigent and other vulnerable population,” she said while opening the 2025/2026 Budget Debate in the House of Representatives, recently.

She noted that the Administration in recognising the increased intensity of weather-related events and the potential impacts, had planned ahead and instituted a multibillion-dollar shock absorber for the economy.

Without these contingency and catastrophe financing measures in place, the Minister contended, the onslaught of Hurricane Beryl and Tropical Storm Rafael would have crippled the island, with the Government having to find billions of dollars in recovery funds.

On March 4, an additional facility was added for an amount of $6.5 billion to bring the total of what would be available to Jamaica to $130.6 billion.

Minister Williams said the commitment of the Administration is to continue to strengthen the multilayered national natural-disaster risk financing and to fill in any gaps.

“As a Government, we must generate budgets that help to equip our people for an environment that experts say is changing too fast,” Minister Williams said.