BRIDGETOWN, Barbados — The Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) is providing Jamaica with a technical assistance (TA) grant to strengthen the capacity of the country’s Ministry of Finance.

The funding will help to support Jamaica in the ongoing implementation of their Economic Reform Programme, under which critical macroeconomic and structural reforms are being undertaken with the objective of stabilizing the economy and setting the stage for inclusive economic growth, CDB said in a release.

“The Government of Jamaica has identified a need to bolster the Ministry of Finance’s technical expertise in fiscal and macroeconomic policy that supports the country’s reforms under its homegrown structural adjustment programme,” CDB explained.

 The programme is aided and assisted by the IMF and other development partners including CDB, the Inter-American Development Bank, the World Bank, and the European Union.

The TA grant of US$400,000, approved by CDB’s Board of Directors last week, will help to:

• strengthen the MOF management team’s capabilities to guide the implementation of critical reforms to support the achievement of key medium-term macroeconomic results;

• provide technical advice to the Minister of Finance and, by extension, the Cabinet on macroeconomic policy issues in general and, specifically, on how best to achieve the goals and objectives of GOJ’s reform programme; and

• enhance relevant skills of technical staff within MOF through training and transfer of expertise and knowledge.