KINGSTON Jamaica – The International Monetary Fund said today that the Jamaica’s ‘fragile’ economy faced ‘strong risk’ of a downturn with high unemployment, high government spending and lower tax revenue at home and high oil prices and an economic slowdown abroad.
The warnings come a day after an IMF team ended a two-week mission to Jamaica under its Article IV Consultation during which Kingston sought a “a possible Fund-supported economic programme”.
“The recovery is fragile and there are strong downside risks,” said Luis Breuer, the IMF’s mission chief for Jamaica, in the statement.
The Washington-based multilateral lender said Jamaica’s economic growth is projected to remain low “at about one per cent, adding that “on present trends, the public sector and external current account deficits are projected to widen and the public debt to rise.
Unemployment, the IMF said, remained high at 12.8 per cent and the country’s fiscal situation “deteriorated”.
The IMF also noted that tax revenues were down while government spending rose in 2011, and the fiscal picture was further harmed by Kingston’s delays in implementing an IMF-prescribed structural reform programme. (CMC)
