The Jamaican Government has disclosed that it is working to develop a financial protection strategy to aid recovery from natural disasters which have the potential to devastate the island.
The programme is being developed with the assistance of the World Bank.
in presenting the budget for the next fiscal year, the government has indicated that it is taking a proactive approach to dealing with natural disasters, particularly hurricanes and earthquakes.
Assessments have been done showing the economic losses from a once-in-a-lifetime hurricane or earthquake could knock out as much as a third of the country's economic output.
It's a reality which would cause a significant setback to the country's macro-economic stability, and so Jamaica is working with the World Bank to find strategies to appropriately respond if the need arises.
The National Disaster Fund currently stands at just US$2 million, significantly below the required level, but is supplemented by a US$500 million dollar contingencies fund in the budget.
So far, discussions have been held about financial protection strategies against disasters with a goal to pursuing outcomes in the next few months.
Until that is completed, Jamaica will have to continue depending on disbursements from the Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility, into which it pays an annual premium of US$4.9 million.
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