KINGSTON: The International Monetary Fund has approved a roughly $40 million disbursement to Jamaica after concluding its eighth review of a loan program propping up the island.
Jamaica is in the third year of a four-year $930 million loan package with the IMF.
The IMF said Jamaica’s performance “is on track and has remained strong” as structural reforms have advanced.
It says lower oil prices have improved the import-dependent country’s finances and growth is projected to approach 2 percent.
In recent decades, Jamaica has had one of the world’s slowest growing economies so even small gains are seen as major improvements.
Earlier this year, the Washington-based Center for Economic and Policy Research said Jamaica was running “the most austere budget in the world.”
