PRIME Minister Andrew Holness has told the World Bank Group and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) that he intends to tap their support in helping to reduce poverty in Jamaica, as the next step in leveraging stability in the country to benefit more Jamaicans.

Holness was speaking after meeting with the presidents of the World Bank and the IDB Wednesday. The heads of both multilateral financiers were in Jamaica earlier this week on a joint visit.

“Having achieved stability and having now using that to move towards leveraging private sector investment in the country, we don’t take it for granted that this will automatically result in a reduction in poverty,” Holness said at a press briefing. “Government has to be very deliberate and instrumental in structuring programmes that will lift people out of poverty and, and the World Bank and the IDB, you have incredible experience, knowledge, know-how, and, of course, the resources financially to assist us in programmes that will deal with poverty,” he continued.

Jamaica’s poverty rate is estimated to have declined to 12.6 percent in 2022, from an estimated 23 percent in 2020.

Holness said in the push to reduce poverty in Jamaica, the Government will be moving to reform the PATH programme under which welfare benefits are distributed with the help of the multilateral financiers.

Ajay Banga, president of the World Bank Group, who took office earlier this month, choosing Jamaica as the second country to visit during his term endorsed the prime minister’s push, but said reducing poverty will take more than enlisting the help of the World Bank and the IDB, especially in light of an increase in poverty levels coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“In many ways, poverty, having taken a sort of setback for the last four or five years, leads to a conclusion that no matter what we do over the next few years, there is not enough money in the multilateral banking system, in the generosity of governments or in the generosity of philanthropists, to take on the level of challenge that we all face in our individual spaces. And I think, therefore, getting the private sector involved, getting its ingenuity, its capital, its innovation and its energy to come to work with all of us, meaning government and multilateral institutions, to make a difference to not just poverty, but living and eliminating poverty on a livable planet,” he said.

His IDB counterpart, Ilan Goldfajn, adding his voice to the discussion, said the issue must also look at inequality which has plagued the region. He said other issues such as assessing countries based on vulnerabilities will be analysed, in response to Holness raising the issue of countries like Jamaica, through its qualification as a middle-income country, does not qualify for certain loans or grants, despite being vulnerable to events such as natural disasters. The country issued catastrophe bonds to help insure against the event of losses from natural disasters.

“I think it was a great deal, but it will also be dealt with through a fund that we can help provide, that you can draw, based on whatever happened to your country, and I think there’s a role for the multilaterals, but there’s also a role for the private sector to be involved in that,” Goldfajn said.

Earlier Finance Minister Nigel Clarke said he is seeing “definite interest” from other Caribbean countries to join in issuing a regional catastrophe bond that would protect their budgets from hurricanes and spread investor risk across more countries.

“Jamaica will certainly reissue our bond, even if we don’t have anyone else to come with us,” Clarke told Reuters in an interview. “But interest has been indicated and we’ll take it from there,” he added, without naming specific countries or dollar amounts. Jamaica launched its current catastrophe bond in 2021. It was designed and facilitated by the World Bank, which holds the principal in trust to be paid out in the event of a disaster to pay for immediate repairs and assistance that would otherwise strain its budget.

The talks came after Banga visited a World Bank-sponsored greenhouse farm in Manchester where he met with farmers growing sweet peppers and tomatoes.

“All I am trying to do is two or three things. One is to actually learn the difference our projects make on the ground. The second is to meet the local Government and make sure that we can understand what is in their priority for the development of Jamaica over the next three to four years. And then we can put our resources focused to work on development of the right things,” Banga told the Jamaica Observer.

Banga added that he chose to go to the farm because “I will stifle in my office. I am not an office kind of guy. I get energy from people. If you see me interacting with people, [it’s because] I learn from them. I learn from what they tell me, because frankly, reading a 50-page report is not the same as listening to that farmer who was explaining to be about those peppers. In five minutes, I learn more from him than I would have learnt from a 50-page report. I am smart and I learn quick, I don’t like reading 50-page reports.”

He said the priority areas outlined by Clarke include improving education, digitisation, the cost of electricity and climate resilience.