FINANCE Minister Dr Nigel Clarke says the Government intends to be surgical in its fiscal and monetary response to the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), and has assured that if the situation worsens locally beyond expectations, the State can handle it.

“The good news is that Jamaica has policy options that we are considering and ones that, should it even deteriorate beyond expectations, there are other things that we can do as well, particularly sensitive to the impact that this is likely to have in the short term on hotels, restaurants and attraction businesses. We are very mindful of the fact that these sectors employ a lot of persons, and one of our main efforts will be to do whatever we can to keep employment at robust levels,” he outlined.

The finance minister said a range of options are being considered as the Government continues to dialogue with the various sectors

Dr Clarke noted that the $7 billion which has been reserved in the physical space is to respond in a counter-cyclical fashion to the effects of the novel coronavirus.

He was addressing a press conference at Jamaica House yesterday, following a meeting with the senior economic policy team of the Government, including the Bank of Jamaica governor, head of the Planning Institute of Jamaica, the financial secretary, and their teams, to advance contingency economic plans that are being put in place to deal with the potential effects of the COVID-19 virus. Clarke also met with leaders of various private sector groups.

At the same time, he stressed that the various industry groups had assured that inventories are adequate and that there is no need for panic. “Large players in the manufacturing and distribution space report that they have three months of inventory for major items of food and essential supplies, so there is no need to panic,” he said.

He said the central bank also assured that it stands ready to respond. “The Bank of Jamaica has buffers for times exactly like this, where they may need to step in if there are shocks to the system [should it] warrant their intervention,” he emphasised.