THE International Monetary Fund (IMF) has reached an agreement (in principle) on a new Letter of Intent on its Standby agreement with Jamaica following severe damage to the country’s infrastructures by flood rains in October.

Gene Leon, the fund’s resident representative in Jamaica, told the Business Observer that “a small mission from the fund was in Kingston last week to wrap up discussions on the third review of the programme”.

He said the IMF board “will meet in mid-January to discuss the matter”.

It is expected that the board will also decide the next amount to be disbursed — and when it will be done — following the successful passing of the last quarterly test in September.

Meanwhile, the response by a group of researchers, academics and policymakers to an invitation by the IMF to submit position papers to address concerns over the state of the Caribbean economy has been described by the IMF “good”.

Andreas Adriano, a spokesman for the fund in Washington, said “proposals from the group are still being reviewed”.

The proposals will form the basis of a conference which the fund has proposed for Barbados on January 27 and 28.

It will be a joint event between the IMF, the University of the West Indies and the Central Bank of Barbados.

Participants will be looking at ways to halt the continued increase in the debt levels, and the significant slowing down in the growth of Caribbean economies.

In its invite to the group in November, the IMF’s Alfred Schipke said the aim is to help Caribbean countries seize the opportunities and meet the challenges of high and sustained growth, as the global economy recovers from the world recession.