The World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors has approved additional financing of US$10 million for its ongoing Jamaica Foundations for Competitiveness and Growth project.  

This additional financing will be used to scale up support for the Government of Jamaica’s business climate reform agenda and contribute to Jamaica’s economic recovery by improving the business environment.   

World Bank Resident Representative for Jamaica and Guyana, Ozan Sevimli, points out, “this additional financing will support initiatives that encourage business growth in Jamaica and strengthen the environment for private sector investment. These changes are more critical now than ever, as the private sector has been hit hard by the economic and social impacts of COVID-19.” 

The additional financing will help Jamaica build back better through support for reforms to make it easier to do business, which will benefit local entrepreneurs.

This World Bank allocation comes at a time when the island is facing significant challenges from the COVID-19 crisis, and the Government has adopted a series of measures to address the deteriorating economic and social situation.  

Provision of technical assistance

The additional funding will be used to finance technical assistance to Jamaica to improve its investment climate by updating laws, regulations, and legal frameworks, to support a private sector-led resilient recovery. These reforms taking place will focus on trading across borders, enforcing contracts, registering property, getting electricity, and getting credit.  

The project also includes policies and programs for export competitiveness, attracting foreign direct investment, and supplier linkages.

The US$50 million Jamaica Foundations for Competitiveness and Growth Project was approved in 2014 and has shown encouraging results, supporting 14 new investment climate laws, regulations, and policies that improved Jamaica’s business environment.  

In addition, nearly 140 small and medium-sized businesses have benefitted from a line of credit program and over 380 businesses received training support through matching grants. The loan from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, popularly known as the World Bank, has a maturity of 25 years, including a grace period of five years.  

World Bank’s COVID-19 response

The World Bank Group is one of the largest sources of funding and knowledge for developing countries is taking broad, fast action to help developing countries strengthen their pandemic response.

To this extent, the bank is supporting public health interventions, working to ensure the flow of critical supplies and equipment, and helping the private sector continue to operate and sustain jobs.  

The World Bank will be deploying up to US$160 billion in financial support over 15 months to help more than 100 countries protect the poor and vulnerable, support businesses, and bolster economic recovery.  This includes $50 billion of new IDA resources through grants and highly concessional loans.