Gov't 'likely' to borrow to help with post-Melissa recovery
Published:Wednesday | November 19, 2025 | 8:23 PM
Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness says it is "likely" that the Government will have to borrow to help to finance Jamaica's rebuilding in the aftermath of Hurricane Melissa, which devastated the island when it made landfall on October 28.
Holness said the initial rebuilding process will be financed using funds from the National Natural Disaster Recovery Fund (NNDRF), which was created to receive funds from Jamaica's various disaster insurance instruments and contingent facilities, including the catastrophe bond.
He said those amounts total US$650 million.
"We have immediate access to approximately, and please note I use the word approximately, US$500 million from the IMF's (International Monetary Fund's) rapid financing facility...the RFI facility does not come with policy conditionalities," Holness further informed.
He was speaking at a hurricane recovery press conference at Jamaica House on Wednesday.
"So we will start this reconstruction process with approximately US$1.15 billion in immediate funds. This is significant...under normal circumstances it would take us three fiscal years to spend such funds in capital expenditure" Holness said.
Holness explained that the Government is currently looking at about US$2.9 billion in damage to public infrastructure, and it will have to shoulder responsibility for other damage, including to some private residences.
"So, we have here a total of US$1.15 billion. A part of it is the insurance and the contingencies that we have and a part of it is immediately accessible debt, that we could start. But just from this assessment here, which is not the final assessment, there is US$8.8 billion of damage, for which the Government would more likely be responsible for at least half. So there is still a gap which will have to be funded and that will have to be funded from additional borrowing," Holness outlined.
He underscored that the Government cannot go on a spending spree, but has to "watch every dollar that it spends" given the fiscal demands of the recovery.
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