COUNTRIES in the region with high public debt ratios need to explore the possibility of tapping into the diaspora pool for long term funding, says Jwala Rambarran.

The governor of the Central Bank of Trinidad and Tobago believes it is imperative for countries like Jamaica to pursue the offering of bonds to its diaspora communities, a previously untapped investor base.

Jamaica is an ideal candidate for the strategy because it has a public debt ratio of 140 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) and one of the highest rates of skilled emigration in the world, “Diaspora bonds offer the huge Caribbean diaspora community a chance to help their country of origin while also providing an investment opportunity,” he told the Caribbean Association of Bankers 39th annual general meeting and conference at the Montego Bay Convention Centre.

Jamaica should have access to more-stable and lesscostly financing to achieve meaningful public debt sustainability given its skilled emigration rate, Rambarran said.

“Using (a well established) World Bank methodology, I estimated the annual savings of the near one million Jamaican Diaspora at around US$3 billion,” the governor said. “Put it another way, the savings of Jamaica’s Diaspora can finance more than two fold Jamaica’s external current deficit.”

However, while admitting that this is something being explored by the Ministry of Finance and Planning, Myrtle Halsall, Senior Deputy Governor of the Bank of Jamaic,a does not see this as the answer to Jamaica’s debt crisis.

“It will have to start small and increase as the product becomes more popular, and Jamaica’s debt is huge,” she said.

Rambarran warned against a dependence on traditional means such as foreign direct investments and remittances to solve Jamaica’s problems.