KINGSTON, Jamaica — The Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica (PSOJ) has welcomed the upgrade of Jamaica’s sovereign credit rating from ‘B’ to ‘B+’ by US-based international rating agency Standard and Poor’s.

PSOJ President Keith Duncan, in a statement today, said the upgrade is a positive development for the country.

“The B+ rating by S&P demonstrates that the economy is moving in the right direction in achieving macroeconomic stability and bodes well for the growth momentum particularly in the context of Jamaica being effectively outside of an IMF programme. Successive administrations must be commended for remaining focused on implementing policies that bolster fiscal resilience and support the growth agenda,” he stated.

S&P also affirmed Jamaica’s ‘B’ short-term foreign and local currency sovereign credit ratings.

Additionally, it said the stable outlook reflects the agency’s expectation that Jamaica will continue to bolster its fiscal resilience through continued public-sector reform, a declining debt burden, and will generate modest real gross domestic product (GDP) growth.