Roads, climate resilience among priority issues at IMF Spring Meeting

WASHINGTON DC:

Finance Minister Fayval Williams highlighted Jamaica’s continued fiscal discipline and its efforts to continue to develop the country’s infrastructure during this week’s International Monetary Fund (IMF) World Bank Spring Meetings in Washington DC.

Roads, water systems and climate resilience initiatives took centre stage in the high-level discussions with the multi-lateral partners.

“Of course, in speaking with entities like the World Bank and the IADB, it’s regarding the programmes that are of interest to us in terms of investment programmes for roads, water resilience and climate resilience,” Minister Williams emphasised as her delegation prepared to participate in the week of meetings.

The team included Bank of Jamaica’s Governor Richard Byles, Deputy Governor Wayne Robinson, along with Financial Secretary Darlene Morrison, Head of Economic Management Dian Black and Dr. Wayne Henry, director of the Planning Institute of Jamaica.

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

This year’s Spring Meetings come amid significant global economic uncertainty, a challenge which Minister Williams acknowledged directly. “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 noted, underscoring why Jamaica must continue to make its infrastructure investments and the linkage of those investments to the country’s GDP growth.

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

The IMF/World Bank Spring meetings runs from April 21 to today, Saturday, April 26.