Country Strategy

Together, IDB staff and Jamaica determine how Jamaica’s priorities coincide with the Bank’s development strategies for the region. The product of that process is the IDB country strategy with Jamaica, currently under preparation.  A Country Strategy Update through September 2010 was prepared to complement the 2006-2009 Strategy summarized below.  In addition, the 2011 Indicative Pipeline document lists operations anticipated to be approved during the current year.

Country strategies include an overview of the country’s current economic situation. They draw on analytical work conducted by the Bank and other parties on a wide range of economic and social sectors, such as rural and urban development, health, education, government modernization, transportation, trade, and the environment, among others.

Jamaica’s Operational Strategy (2006 - 2009)

The IDB Strategy for 2006-2009 is consistent with the Government’s Medium-Term Socio-Economic Policy Framework (MTSEPF), which seeks to create a stable macroeconomic environment, reduce public debt and spur private sector development by improving competitiveness and consolidate social gains.

A key area of focus will be private sector development, where the Bank will seek to support improvements in the incentive framework and the business environment, including reforms that build economic opportunities for the majority through reducing the transaction costs for titling and registering land, increasing access to credit for sole proprietors and small businesses, and improving incentives for informal businesses to become formal.

The strategy also aims to build on progress made on the social front, particularly in reducing poverty, in the 1990s.

Other strategic objectives include:

• Obtaining better value for money or better outcomes from resources.
• Helping to develop a comprehensive approach to natural disaster risk management that focuses on mitigation, preparedness, emergency response and recovery strategies.