President of the World Bank, Ajay Banga, has lauded Jamaica’s current economic health.

The World Bank President notes that the country has been strident in managing its macroeconomics, especially after a pandemic such as COVID.

While speaking with journalists, he said “It is not the same for many developing countries, which took on a great deal of debt when interest rates were low, both international and domestic debt.”

Banga added that both the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), as part of the G-20 Common Framework, which is the only multilateral mechanism for forgiving and restructuring sovereign debt “are trying to work through how to restructure some of those debts in a way that makes it more palatable and easier for these countries to work their way through.”

He praised the Government of Jamaica for being the pioneer in issuing “some very interesting” catastrophe bonds, which enable the country to get access to funding in the event of a terrible natural disaster.

The bonds were designed and facilitated by the World Bank.

Banga also made it known that other countries can learn from the example, noting that Finance Minister, Dr. Nigel Clarke, “is willing to be a pioneer in pushing the idea further”.