The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) has formerly approved the US$600 million ($53.7 billion) in loans for Jamaica adding that they are not contingent upon the extradition of Tivoli strongman Christopher ‘Dudus’ Coke.

“Absolutely not,” stated Dan Zelikow vice-president of the IDB in response to Business Observer queries after a press conference at the Ministry of Finance in Kingston, last Wednesday.

The Government has already received some US$200 million since January and the remainder will be disbursed within the year.

Zelikow was initially ignorant of the stalemate between the US and Jamaica regarding the extradition of Coke, when queried by the Observer during the press conference. Finance minister Audley Shaw, however, interjected, arguing that the IDB would not issue conditionalities tied to US policy because it was not governed by US dictates.

“The IDB is a multilateral institution we are not talking about a bilateral situation, the IDB is multi-country institution and has 49 member countries,” argued Shaw.

Zelikow added: “We at the IDB are categorised as an international civil servants it just so happens that some of us have US passports”.

The IDB is a multilateral institution however the US is its single largest shareholder accounting for one-third of its capital which equates to voting power.

“Each member country appoints a governor, whose voting power is proportional to the Bank’s capital subscribed to by the country. The 26 Latin American and Caribbean countries in the IDB hold 50 per cent of the voting power; the single largest shareholder is the US with 30 per cent,” states the IDB organisational structure posted on its website.

Zelikow’s visit and press conference comes a day after Prime Minister Bruce Golding defended his administration’s decision to refuse the US extradition request for Coke, on the grounds that the Americans obtained evidence illegally.

Zelikow who will return to IDB headquarters in Washington US on Thursday met with Prime Minister Bruce Golding and Shaw to “congratulate them” for actions taken to deal “decisively” with the country’s fiscal challenges.

Jamaica had executed a voluntary debt swap, reached as a conditionality of the US$1.2 billion stand-by arrangement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) last month.

“The success of this debt swap is a testament to the investment community’s confidence in Jamaica’s plan for improving debt dynamics,” said Zelikow. “Jamaica is now in a position to stabilise its finances, accelerate its economic recovery, attract increased investment and generate more jobs. The IDB is committed to support this new chapter in Jamaica’s development with one of the largest lending programs we have ever approved, relative to a country’s GDP.”

Jamaica’s voluntary debt swap registered a participation rate of more than 99 per cent and will result in Government saving some $40 billion on interest cost payments in its first year — due to a reduction in interest rates and extension of debt maturities.

Zelikow said that the loans would support several aspects of Jamaica’s reform agenda, including improvements in fiscal management and the introduction of fiscal responsibility legislation, initiatives to enhance information in credit markets and remove distortions in the tax system, and support for social programs such as the PATH cash-transfer mechanism.