KINGSTON, Jamaica – Jamaica’s public debt stock is projected to reach $2.072 trillion by the start of financial year 2015/16 on April 1.
This is an increase of approximately $125 billion, or 6.5 per cent over the 2013/14 figure.
This has been stated in the Medium Term Debt Strategy (MTDS) for financial years 2015/16-2017/18, which was tabled by Minister of Finance and Planning Dr Peter Phillips in the House of Representatives on February 19.
The MTDS noted that additional debt triggered the global bond issue of July 14, 2014, totaling US$800 million, or J$89.8 billion, accounting for the majority of the increase up to December, 2014 of $93.7 billion. But, there were also increases from loan inflows from multilateral creditors, including the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and Caribbean Development Bank (CDB), and the depreciation of the Jamaican currency which added approximately $54.8 billion to the debt stock.
Balford Henry
