THE International Monetary Fund (IMF) Country Team is returning to Jamaica this week to continue discussions with the Government on a successor arrangement.

Minister of Finance and the Public Service Audley Shaw made the disclosure during the sitting of the House of Representatives on Tuesday.

In 2013, Jamaica signed a US$932.3-million, four-year Extended Fund Facility agreement with the IMF to support a comprehensive economic reform agenda for the country. This agreement ends in April 2017.

Shaw informed that the finance ministry’s inter-agency technical team has been working assiduously to frame the draft policy content of a successor arrangement that could be supported by the IMF.

“Our emphasis is on accelerating economic growth by pursuing more strategic and transformative private-sector investments and creating more fiscal space to increase our capital spending, while targeting such spending on infrastructure that supports our growth strategy,” he told the House.

Other focus areas include realigning the country’s tax structure towards indirect taxes with a view to stimulating economic efficiency, while broadening and safeguarding the revenue base through enforcement and compliance; and improving Jamaica’s economic solvency, through active liability management operations aimed at extending debt maturities and further reducing the annual public debt service costs.

Shaw said emphasis will also be placed on maintaining fiscal and debt sustainability, and strengthening Jamaica’s competitiveness and business climate by further elimination of red tape and other legal and administrative bottlenecks.