Jamaica Secures $6.7B From Agencies for Post-Melissa Rebuild

Jamaica has secured up to $6.7 billion in support from international agencies to fund reconstruction over the next three years in the wake of Hurricane Melissa.

Melissa, one of the strongest storms on record to make landfall in the Caribbean, unleashed catastrophic flooding and landslides with some 30 inches (76 cm) of rain when it struck Jamaica in October, causing damage estimated at $10 billion.

The agencies said in a joint statement on Monday that the support will come from the Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean CAF, the IMF, the World Bank, the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) and the Inter-American Development Bank.

Up to $3.6 billion of the package could be made available in sovereign financing for the Jamaican government’s recovery and reconstruction program, they said.

That amount would comprise of up to $1 billion each from CAF, the IDB and the World Bank, $200 million from the CDB and a potential $415 million loan from the International Monetary Fund under its rapid financing window for natural disasters.

The institutions said their divisions linked to the private-sector, IDB Invest, IFC and MIGA, are working to provide an initial $2.4 billion in private investment for reconstruction.

Jamaica’s disaster-risk financing framework had allowed $662 million to be allocated for urgent needs from domestic contingency funds, insurance payouts and contingent credit lines, the agencies added in the statement.

An additional $12 million in grants had already been mobilized from the IDB, the World Bank and CAF to support recovery efforts, they said.

(Reporting by Burton, Writing by Siniawski; Editing by Aida Pelaez-Fernandez and Alexander Smith)