Background
Jamaica's
total debt stock is over twice what it was at the beginning of the 1980s. In 1997
the total debt stock was $3.9 billion. Half of the debt is bilateral. Problems
of debt grew so great that in the budget for the current year (1999-2000), the
government estimated that 66 per cent of its revenue was being consumed in debt
service. In order to raise extra revenue, the government proposed large rises
in tax on fuel, which provoked rioting in the streets. The government was forced
to back down, but it is still faced with severe debt problems.
The
country is not considered poor enough to receive debt relief under the HIPC programme,
and so all the rhetoric at the G8 summit in Cologne will have marginal impact
on relieving Jamaica's debt crisis. Latest figures show that the government spends
over one and a half times more on debt service than on health and education combined.
Jamaica paid almost all of the debt service that was scheduled in 1996,
and this has led to an extremely high ratio of debt service to aid received. For
every dollar that the country received in aid, the government paid $17.05 in debt
service. Jamaica owes the British government a total of £56 million.
The
stats
| Key
indicators | | |
| | | |
| Total debt 1996 (EDT) ($ million) | | 4,041 |
| Total debt service 1996 (TDS) ($ million) | | 682 |
| | | |
| Debt per person 1996 ($) | | 1616 |
| Debt service per person 1996 ($) | | 273 |
| GNP per person 1996 ($) | | 1,714 |
| | | |
| Debt to exports ratio 1996 (EDT/XGS) | | 107 |
| Present value debt to exports ratio 94-96(PV/XGS) | | 0 |
| Debt to GNP ratio 1996 (EDT/GNP) | | 94 |
| Debt service to exports ratio 1996 (TDS/XGS) | | 18 |
|
