The Country Strategy Paper (CSP) proposes a Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) assistance strategy for Jamaica over the period 2014-16.  The most recent CSP for the country covered 2008-2011.  The Strategy is framed against the backdrop of a country that continues to grapple with an acute debt challenge and insufficient growth to quickly reverse debt dynamics or deliver on sustained welfare enhancement of the population.

The Strategy is characterised by focus and selectivity and is limited to supporting outcomes of increased equitable access to high-quality education and training; improved capacity for environmental management; climate risk and disaster risk management; and sustainable urban and rural development.  These outcome areas represent CDB’s own comparative advantages and are consistent with the Bank’s strategic objective of supporting inclusive growth and sustainable development.  They also provide an opportunity for the Bank to build on important, but unfinished, developmental work in key sectors.  

The proposed CSP has a particular design feature.  Jamaica’s fiscal sustainability objectives require that CDB adopt a conservative approach to its lending engagement.  The resource envelope is therefore restricted to the allocation under Special Development Fund 8 of Thirty-three point eight million United States dollars (USD33.8 mn), augmented by the country’s allocation under Basic Needs Trust Fund 7 of just over USD4.7 mn.  However, recognising the critical importance of Jamaica as a Borrowing Member Country and the need for sustained and meaningful engagement, the shorter CSP timeframe of two rather than four years is intended to facilitate a relatively quick reassessment of the country’s fiscal and debt performance.