The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has called on the Jamaican government to focus on facilitating private sector development as it attempts to boost growth and employment.

Speaking following the approval of a US$80 million disbursement under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) Programme, Deputy Managing Director and Acting Chair, Mitsuhiro Furusawa said although Jamaica’s economic reform program has been “exceptional by international standards” since its implementation, concrete reforms are needed to sustainably reduce the government wage bill while boosting growth and employment.

He says as such the government needs to work on expanding financial access and reducing financing cost, lowering energy cost, maintaining external competitiveness, reducing tax compliance costs, and improving public sector resource allocation.’

The US$80 Million disbursemnt brings the total under the programme to about US$748.2 million.

It followed the completion of the combined eleventh and twelfth reviews under the EFF. This brings the total disbursements under the programme to about US$748.2 million.

Furusawa, says since May 2013, Jamaica’s implementation of the economic reform program supported by the EFF has been “exceptional by international standards”. It indicates that after three years of difficult economic reforms, inflation is at historical lows, the current account deficit has more than halved, net international reserves have doubled, and access to domestic and international financial markets has been restored, supported by upgrades in credit ratings and historically high business confidence indicators.