KINGSTON, Jamaica — Jamaica has requested access to the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF’s) Rapid Financing Instrument (RFI), Finance Minister Dr Nigel Clarke disclosed in a news release a short while ago.

According to Minister Clarke, the decision was taken to access the instrument because the duration of the “global lockdown” to stem the spread of COVID-19 is highly uncertain.

“The open-ended nature of the pandemic and its economic spillovers therefore pose intolerable balance of payments risks to Jamaica that threaten the economic gains of our seven-year reform effort,” Dr Clarke said, even as he pointed to mitigating factors that provide the ability for Jamaica to absorb economic shocks.

These include reasonable stock of foreign reserves and contingency financing options that arise from (i) the availability of cash resources programmed for accelerated debt repayment (ii) the availability of domestic sources of financing and (iii) untapped capacity available from other multilateral institutions such as the Caribbean Development Bank, Inter-American Development Bank and the World Bank, including by redirecting existing projects.

The RFI provides rapid financing to IMF member countries with balance of payment needs but without the requirement of having a full-fledged IMF programme, ongoing reviews and conditionality.

On April 6, the IMF substantially increased the amounts that member countries could access under the RFI window.