KINGSTON, Jamaica — The National Security Council (NSC) is set to meet tomorrow to discuss and operationalise strategies formulated in the recently ended Cabinet retreat to address the country’s grave crime problem, according to the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM).

More than 1600 individuals were killed in 2017, and the country saw over 40 murders in the first nine days of this year.

The United States has also categorised Jamaica as ‘Level 2’ on its new tiered travel advisory scale, warning Americans to “exercise increased caution” when travelling to the island due to the high crime rate.

The OPM said crime was one of the three major areas discussed at the three-day retreat, which ended on Friday, with the Cabinet examining current crime and public order challenges and formulating strategies to urgently address them.

The other areas were the budget, for which the Cabinet examined plans and projections for the 2018/19 fiscal year to be tabled in the estimates of expenditure, and public sector wage negotiations.

OPM said Prime Minister Andrew Holness would be shortly convening a meeting with the heads of the various bargaining units to discuss the current wage negotiation and the way forward.