Gov’t wants review of Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility
The Government has asked the Bruce Golding-led Caribbean Community (Caricom) Review Commission to reassess the policy Jamaica has with the Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility (CCRIF), even as concerns have been raised by the parliamentary Opposition.
Opposition spokesman on local government Noel Arscott, while at an emergency meeting with Members of Parliament and heads of relevant agencies at the Office of the Prime Minister Thursday night, questioned the relevance of payments to the CCRIF when the country has not benefited from it despite being hit by hurricanes over the years which have caused significant damage.
The agreement was signed by the then People’s National National Party Government in 2007.
CCRIF is a not-for-profit, risk-pooling facility, owned and operated by Caribbean governments. It is designed to limit the financial impact of catastrophic hurricanes and earthquakes to regional administrations by quickly providing short-term liquidity when a parametric insurance policy is triggered.
“That is one of the matters I’ve taken to Cabinet and that we have asked former Prime Minister Bruce Golding to review in the Caricom discussions that are taking place. But I am telling you right now, I am against it and I’m going to do everything that is humanly possible in my powers to pull us out of that agreement because it is not beneficial to the people of Jamaica,” Local Government Minister Desmond McKenzie told the Jamaica Observer at Thursday’s meeting.
Jamaica pays US$50 million to the CCRIF annually and has not received a payout since its inception.
It was, however, not clear what were the reasons that Jamaica has been unable to get any payout.
“It’s an insurance that the members of the Caribbean territories are bound to. It’s insurance like the one you would take out on your house, but the conditions for this insurance are not ordinary conditions. If we were to have something like the 1907 earthquake we still would not benefit from it. The country has to be devastated; literally all of us would have to die before we can draw down a cent. We would not qualify for (Hurricane) Gilbert; we would not qualify for (Hurricane) Dean; we would not for none of the major hurricanes that we have had over the last few years that would have made us eligible to draw down on the funds, so it’s a waste of time,” McKenzie argued.
He insisted that the US$500 million that has been spent so far could have built more roads, bridges and other infrastructure.
“We pay it every year and it is a whole lot of money which, as far as I’m concerned, is a waste of money,” he said.