Above: Kingston (CJ Photo)

By the Caribbean Journal staff

Jamaica and the Inter-American Development Bank have signed a $60 million loan contract.

The loan is the third tranche of financing for a public financial and performance management programme, according to the IDB.

Jamaica Finance Minister Dr Peter Phillips and IDB President Luis Alberto Moreno signed the agreement.

It accompanies what the Bank called Jamaica’s “efforts to enhance public management by strengthening fiscal discipline, improving public financial management, and increasing public performance management.”

Jamaica recently concluded its first performance review under its new IMF programme, something Moreno said was “an important reflection of that institution’s confidence in Jamaica’s macroeconomic stabilization program.”

The Bank said the expected results of the programme were greater fiscal discipline, “more efficient and effective public financial management” and “improved service delivery and greater accountability in public performance management.”

The loan is for a period of 20 years, with a five-year grace period.

Jamaica’s Ministry of Finance and Planning will be the executing agency on the project.