Above: Kingston (CJ Photo)

By the Caribbean Journal staff

Jamaica will be receiving a $31.6 million loan from the Inter-American Development Bank targeting efficiency in the country’s public sector.

The loan was approved by the Inter-American Development Bank’s board of directors this week.

The Bank said the loan would help Jamaica’s efforts to strengthen capacity in “human resource management, information and communications technologies management, and control systems and accountability mechanisms.”

The IDB said Jamaica’s government had identified results in human capital management, information and communication systems and budget control system modernization as “high priorities given their significant potential for efficiency gains and long-term budget savings.”

As part of the loan programme, around 1,200 government employees in Jamaica will be trained in areas including procurement and e-tendering software.

The project will also set up a new technical office to “enhance the oversight role of Parliament.”

The loan is being jointly funded by IDB, the Chinese government and the European Union.

The IDB will contribute $14 million of the total amount, with $11 million from China’s Co-Financing Fund for Latin America and the Caribbean.

The European Commission will provide the remainder.