04/12/2025
Sitting of Jamaican Parliament streamed LIVE on Tuesday, December 2, 2025.
Jamaica's Prime Minister: Andrew Holness - (Starting from 21 minutes and 25 seconds into the video):
(21:26)
"Madam Speaker, the international community has responded to Jamaica with remarkable solidarity, urgency, and confidence. Yesterday, the 1st of December 2025, the international financial institutions, the IMF, the World Bank Group, the Interamerican Development Bank, the Development Bank of Latin America, and the Caribbean, and the Caribbean Development Bank jointly
announced a three-year coordinated financing package of up to 6.7 billion dollars to support Jamaica's (US dollars!!) to support Jamaica's recovery, reconstruction, and long-term resilience.
Madam Speaker, (Mrs. Juliet Holness) even before the announcement of this substantial international financing package, we already had in place a multi-layered disaster risk financing framework, which was the product of years of strategic planning, disciplined financial management, and proactive investment in
resilience. This framework enabled rapid early response and the immediate mobilization of liquidity to meet the most urgent needs following Hurricane Melissa. Within days, Jamaica activated several
instruments across our risk financing architecture. We had approximately Jamaican 5.3 billion (dollars) in the contingencies fund and 1 billion in the National Natural Disaster Reserve Fund.
We received US 911 million from the Caribbean catastrophe risk insurance facility CRIF, one of the largest payouts ever made in the region. And then we had the US $150 million under the catastrophe bond triggered immediately based upon parametric thresholds. In addition, we had US $285 million available through the IDB's contingent credit facility for rapid liquidity support, which was upsized to $300 million and US $42 million scalable to US $84 million available on request under the World Bank's uh catastrophe deferred draw down option.
Madame Speaker, (Mrs. Juliet Holness) *HIS WIFE!!!* 🥺 this totals approximately US $662 million in liquidity that was available almost immediately following the hurricane. This is the very definition of planning, preparedness, and responsible governance.
Our multi-layered approach ensure that Jamaica did not wait helplessly for external support. We were prepared and ready to act, ready to deliver and ready to protect our people. However, Madam Speaker, the scale of the disaster is without precedence in our
history.
The widespread infrastructure damage, displacement of thousands of families, the destruction of livelihoods, and the long-term economic impacts mean that additional financing is required to support the reconstruction effort and to build a more resilient Jamaica. It is against this backdrop of strong national preparedness that the international community has now rallied behind Jamaica, recognizing that we are not merely seeking help. We are ready to lead, ready to rebuild, and ready to transform.
Madam Speaker, the US $6.7 billion financing announced yesterday has three main components. US 3.6 billion in sovereign sovereign debt financing. This is for the government to execute the national recovery and reconstruction program over the next three years and includes up to $1 billion each from the World Bank, IDB and CAF,
US $415 million from the IMF under the large natural disaster window of the RFI and US 200 million from the CDB, the
Caribbean Development Bank.
The second category of funding, second component of funding would be US $2.4 billion in private capital mobilization.
IDB invests the international finance corporation and the multilateral investment guarantee agency will mobilize private
investment through public private partnership models.
Madam Speaker, it is important to note that mobilizing private capital will be critical not only to scale up recovery efforts but
also to preserve fiscal space. It is not intended the for the sovereign debt pool. This is not intended Madam Speaker for the sovereign debt pool and the private financing pool will operate independent of each other.
The plan is to use innovative public private partnership solutions and structures that blend public and private finance and expertise throughout the recovery and reconstruction process.
The third component would be grants and technical assistance.
The third important component of the overall financing package
would see the five institutions committing to provide technical
assistance and policy advice services. This would include
uh they would provide uh madam speaker policy advisory services which would be funded by grants that draw on global
experience and best practices in disaster response.
So far, US $12 million in grants would have already been mobilized from the IDB, the World Bank Group and the CF with more to come.
Madam Speaker, these three components in addition to the US 662 million that was already available is what makes up the overall
financing package of $6.7 billion US. This is the single largest and most comprehensive development financing package ever assembled for Jamaica.
It gives us the liquidity, the fiscal space, and the multi-year
investment framework required to rebuild stronger and more secure for our future. Securing support of this magnitude within one month of Hurricane Melissa is nothing short of historic. (
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