Letter of the Day | Why is NaRRA necessary?

THE EDITOR, Madam:

Five weeks after Hurricane Melissa struck Jamaica, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) mobilised US$6 billon (J$950 billon) of reconstruction loans to be disbursed over four fiscal years - US$2.4 billon from the private sector and US$3.6 billon from multilateral institutions.

During his budget presentation, Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness assured Jamaica that every dollar would be deployed as capital investment. However, the budgetary documents do not reflect this.

One of the multilateral lenders is the Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean (CAF), and it committed US$1 billon. This fiscal year, the Revenue Estimates contain a projected payment of $65.7 billon from CAF. Therefore, the budget for rebuilding should be at least $65.7 billon. Rebuilding funds are assigned to the contingency provision, but it is only $15 billion, which is less than a quarter of expectations.

In fact, the contingency provision over the four-year disbursement period is just $138 billon. It should be at least $950 billon, so it appears that 85 per cent of the loans mobilised by the IMF are not being deployed for rebuilding.

The National Recovery and Resilience Authority (NaRRA) was created because of the magnitude of the rebuilding funds but, for the first four years, only $138 billion is available. By comparison, the recurring capital budget for water, roads etc. is far greater at $207 billion So the question must be asked, why is NaRRA necessary?

JOHN LENNON

jaalennon@gmail.com