Jamaica

Country: Jamaica

Capital City: Kingston

Size: 4,181 sq. miles 

Population: 2,969,560

Median age: 30.7

Life expectancy: 75 years

Currency: Jamaican Dollar (JMD)

Major language: English

Kingston, sEPTEMBER 05, 2022 (MIC) -

Post COVID-19 Jamaica: Fiscally Weakened but Painful Lessons Learned

Economist and Executive Director of the Caribbean Policy Research Institute (CAPRI), Dr. Damien King, said Jamaica must be commended for some of its fiscal measures before and during the pandemic, despite its post-independence history of poor fiscal management.

In the opening of the budget presentation on March 8, 2022, Minister of Finance and the Public Service, Dr. Nigel Clarke, acknowledged the country’s tumultuous economic history. He added that “a country’s most used measure of economic advancement is the amount of goods and services that country produces each year and how this quantity changes over time.

When you examine Jamaica’s GDP per capita over the last 60 years it is easy to see that we have meandered in the economic wilderness for well over 40 years”.

Dr. King added that “Jamaica, of course is in a fiscally weakened position, as are all other countries coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic. And so, the prospect of having to muscle up the fiscal resources to deal with another crisis on that scale is daunting to say the least. At the same time, a few years down the road, we have all learned lessons. Painful lessons, but lessons nonetheless about how to manage that kind of crisis”. 

Debt 

One month earlier, the Executive Board of the International Monetary

Fund (IMF) released a statement that “in the decade preceding the pandemic, Jamaica made good progress to restore macroeconomic and financial stability. Aided by Fund financial support, the fiscal deficit was brought down from 11 percent of GDP in 2009 to a surplus and public debt fell from 142 percent of GDP to 94 percent in 2019”.

Dr. King agreed that Jamaica’s ability to navigate the COVID-19 pandemic was due in part to fiscal policy decisions that were made before the pandemic. 

A surplus in local cash reserves, foreign exchange reserves and the establishment of a Disaster Contingencies Fund before the pandemic, served as economic buffers during the pandemic.

Cash Reserves

In the 2022/2023 budget presentation, Minister Clarke reported J$90 billion in cash reserves due to the consolidating of private bodies into parent ministries and the privatising of Wigton Windfarm and TransJamaica Highway before the pandemic. 

Up to the time of this report, efforts to obtain a statement on the current state of the cash reserves were unsuccessful. 

Disaster Contingencies Fund

Dr. King said that Jamaica also established a Disaster Contingencies Fund two fiscal years before the pandemic.  In the 2022/2023 budget presentation, Minister Clarke said that JMD $4 billion was added to this Contingencies Fund before the pandemic. 

Minister Clarke added that, “when the economy was locked down in the first quarter of the fiscal year, job losses were mounting and we needed to get the COVID-19 Allocation of Resources for Employees (CARE) Programme payments out, under emergency conditions, we were able to draw down on this Contingencies Fund”.

According to the 2022 budget report, “the Government delivered direct and indirect support across two fiscal years, as a response to the pandemic, costing J$40.6 billion and representing 2% of GDP”. This figure amounts to approximately J$37 billion more than what was available in the Disaster Contingencies Fund. Added funding was received through local and international agencies and organisations who supported Jamaica’s COVID-19 response.

Previous reports by the MIC have highlighted some of the agencies and organisations, such as the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), IMF and the World Bank.

Dr. King said the government must be commended for the speed at which the government created the infrastructure to deliver emergency funds to the needy and most vulnerable. 

But he added that its implementation was not flawless. 

The Auditor General’s audit of the CARE Programme in 2020 reported inadequate controls over the COVID-19 Programme of Advancement Through Health and Education (PATH) Grant. More specifically, it said that “there was a high risk of irregular or erroneous COVID-19 PATH Grant payments, and PATH payments in general, because the relevant controls over the IT system used to process PATH benefits, were not operating effectively”. 

The report also added that “The Ministry of Labour and Social Security (MLSS) did not have an effective system in place over the beneficiary registration and verification processes to facilitate an effective audit trail and to ensure that beneficiaries’ files were complete, accurate and appropriately safeguarded”.

Source: Auditor General’s Department

Another grant issued by the government as part of the CARE Programme was the COVID-19 General Grant. This grant was a one-time payment of either J$25,000 or J$40,000 and was issued to specific occupations in specific industries.

COVID-19 General Grant Beneficiaries

The audit revealed “an increased risk of unqualified persons benefiting from a COVID-19 General Grant because the responsible agency/ministry relied on data provided by external third-party associations for some occupational groups/practitioners without conducting the requisite due diligence to validate the data provided”.

The report made three general recommendations to the government. These were that the MLSS should strengthen the Beneficiary Management Information System (BMIS) controls, management of beneficiary files should be improved, and that data provided by third parties should be validated to reduce the risk of unqualified people benefitting from the grants. 

Attempts to obtain an official response by the MLSS to these recommendations were unsuccessful up to the time of this report. 

On June 5, 2020, it was reported that the Integrity Commission would also be monitoring the government’s COVID-19 spending and related contract awards after “Rahim Cleaning and Trucking Limited was awarded a J$46 million contract to carry out cleaning and sanitising works at eight locations in Ocho Rios, St Ann . This was also supported by National Integrity Action (NIA).

Foreign Exchange

Jamaica’s foreign exchange reserves were also economic buffers that helped to absorb the ‘COVID shock’. Foreign exchange reserve adequacy is typically based on whether a country can pay for up to 6 months of food imports and whether it can cover its debts for up to 12 months. But Deputy Governor of the Bank of Jamaica (BOJ), Dr. Wayne Robinson, said that the bank used a much broader definition of reserve adequacy as guided by the IMF.

Deputy Governor Robinson also added that “our reserves are also buoyed whenever we receive inflows from the government. So, for example, when the government undertakes some external borrowing, the foreign exchange flows into the bank. Also, since October [2021] to the 17th of August on net we have bought approximately US$500 million”.

In his 2022 budget presentation, Minister Clarke said that “between 2016 and 2019, we increased our non-borrowed reserves by US$1 billion, which put us in a good position when the crisis hit”. 

He added that “as we transitioned to exchange rate flexibility and inflation targeting, what would have happened to us under these COVID-19 circumstances when our earnings from tourism have collapsed by US$2.5 billion dollars?”

In a previous report, the MIC highlighted the impact of the pandemic on Jamaica’s tourism industry. In that report, Minister of Tourism, Edmund Bartlett, said that the tourism sector is almost back to pre-pandemic performance in terms of tourism arrivals and foreign exchange. 

Governor of the BOJ, Richard Byles, said that in addition to the tourism sector, the overall outlook of the country’s economic landscape is positive. 

Inflation

One of the areas that was most affected by the pandemic was the rate of inflation. According to the IMF, inflation exceeded the BOJ’s target band (of 4 to 6 percent) in August 2021 and increased to 8.5 percent in October 2021.

Governor Byles said that while inflation rates have increased between 2020 and 2022, there should be a decline within the next two years if there are no major external shocks.

He cautioned that the fragile geopolitical situation between Russia and Ukraine could pose a significant risk to commodity prices but said that the trend over the past three months reflects a reduction in global food and oil prices.

In February 2022, the IMF said it was unclear how much the sharp rise in global food prices would affect food prices in Jamaica. But according to the Statistical Institute of Jamaica, (STATIN), the Cost of food in Jamaica has increased approximately 14 percent in June of 2022 over the same month in 2021.

On July 20, 2020, it was reported that the government allocated J$240 million for a buy-back programme to support farmers who were affected by the closure of the tourism sector during the pandemic. Attempts to obtain an official response on Jamaica’s food security from the Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries, Pearnel Charles Jr was unsuccessful. But on August 29, 2022, it was reported that J$20 million was allocated to help Jamaican farmers with their land preparation. 

Imports and Exports

President of the Shipping Association of Jamaica (SAJ), William Brown, said the pandemic did not have a significant impact on food imports. 

But he added that an increase in freight rates had an impact on the cost of domestic food prices.

In July 2021, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Jamaica Chamber of Commerce (JCC) Larry Watson, warned consumers about increases in food prices due to a rise in shipping costs. According to Watson, there was a 300 percent increase in shipping container costs before and during the pandemic. 

President Brown said the area that was most affected was the cruise ship industry and more specifically the people who run the ports.

He added Jamaica was one of the few countries in this hemisphere that supported seafarer changes and repatriation during the pandemic, which helped the country to earn some foreign exchange.

It was reported that “in June of 2020, Jamaica passed the relevant Disaster Risk Management Order, which designated seafarers as essential workers and created a regime to facilitate approved seafarers transiting Jamaica for the purpose of joining a ship or leaving a ship.

This process was due to a collaboration between the Maritime Authority of Jamaica (MAJ), the Passport, Immigration and Citizenship Agency (PICA), the Shipping Association of Jamaica (SAJ) and the Ministry of Health and Wellness (MOHW).

Social Fabric Safeguards

 The World Bank/UNICEF Public Expenditure Review of Jamaica’s Education Sector said that children spend an average of 11 years in school, which when adjusted for what they learn, is equivalent to approximately 7 years. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this is further reduced to approximately 6 years of quality learning. The Review added that “given the level of investment, education outcomes are 10% below expectation”. 

The Ministry of Finance and the Public Service increased the budgetary allocation to education in response to the pandemic, which represented 19% of total non-debt expenditure in the 2021/2022 fiscal year. In his 2022/2023 budget presentation, Minister Clarke said that J$122 billion, or 20.2% of non-debt expenditure, would be allocated to education in the upcoming fiscal year. It is also the largest share of the government’s budget, which is followed by health.

 A previous MIC report highlighted the cost and impact of the pandemic on Jamaica’s healthcare system and healthcare workers. As of March 2022, the government of Jamaica reported that it spent J$26.4 billion on COVID-related health intervention. The health allocation for the upcoming fiscal year is approximately J$93 billion. 

On May 3, 2022, Minister of Health & Wellness, Dr. Christopher Tufton said the post-COVID priority would be the sustainable financing of the country’s healthcare system since it was not pursued as desired due to the priorities of COVID-19”. Jamaica’s increase in Non-communicable Diseases (NCDs) also significantly increased the risk of death due to COVID-19, and costs to the National Health Fund (NHF) increased by 139% between 2015 and 2022, according to Minister Tufton.

Economic Outlook 

As of August 31, 2022, Jamaica recorded approximately 3,254 deaths and 149,911 confirmed COVID-19 cases. 

But the IMF said the country’s economy is gaining momentum since “real per capita GDP is expected to return to pre-crisis levels by 2024”. It added that “new COVID-19 waves, triggered by new variants of the COVID-19 virus could lead to a more prolonged disruption of tourism, trade and capital flows”. 

The tourism sector is reportedly almost back to pre-pandemic levels, but Jamaica also ranked 13 out of 166 economies on the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) Tourism Dependency Index even before the pandemic.

Economist, Dr. King, said the tourism sector gets a disproportionate share of government attention. 

But while this is a risk, he said diversification is not always the clear-cut solution because “diversification in a small economy comes at an efficiency cost”.

“So, there’s a trade-off between the security you get from having diverse industries, because one industry having a problem, a crisis, a contraction doesn’t affect your overall economy that much. But that security comes at the price of a lower standard of living”, he added.  

In his budget presentation on March 8, 2022, Minister Clarke announced that Jamaica placed a US$185 million catastrophe bond in global capital markets, to shift the risk of a natural disaster away from Jamaica to international investors. 

One of the leading international credit agencies, Fitch Ratings, said this bond significantly strengthens the country’s disaster mitigation strategy and does not add to its national debt. They added that that the Jamaica could potentially experience “an annual loss of US$125 million, or 0.9% of GDP, due to hurricanes and flooding” and that a “one-in-50-years weather event” could cost US$1.3 billion, or 8.8% of the country’s GDP.

Jamaica currently ranks 120 out of 195 countries on the Global Health Security Index with a score of approximately 38%. It ranks even lower in the categories of prevention and response to zoonotic diseases like COVID-19. 

This makes Jamaica extremely vulnerable to any external shocks of a similar nature. The risk is further increased by the low global average of preparedness to another pandemic, which based on the evidence, had a significant impact on Jamaica’s vulnerable tourism, health, and agricultural sectors. 

 In response to the question of whether Jamaica could withstand a monkeypox outbreak for example, Economist Dr. King said that while Jamaica should be commended for its fiscal policies and economic buffers, the thought of the country managing a similar shock in the short term is quite daunting. Jamaica confirmed 5 cases of monkeypox as of August 28, 2022.

 In addition to the risks of diseases and natural disasters, the war in Ukraine continues to have a negative impact on food and energy prices, inflation and global supply chains. Despite the significant progress made in reducing its debt, these factors could further affect Jamaica’s COVID-19 recovery and economic future, especially among the country’s most poor and vulnerable.

Kingston, June 6, 2022 (MIC) -

Jamaica’s Tourism Sector Rebounds Despite New Threats

As Jamaica experiences its fifth COVID-19 wave, economists and representatives of the tourism sector are optimistic about the sector’s resilience but are wary about other potential threats.

Medical Association of Jamaica (MAJ) president, Dr. Brian James, said “the fifth wave of COVID-19 hospitalisations continues. It does not appear that we have reached the peak. Hospitals have started seeing worrying numbers”.

A snapshot shared by Dr. James of the COVID-19 cases between April 1 and May 28, 2022, shows that the lowest number of hospitalisations since early in the pandemic was on April 16; one day after all the country’s COVID-19 restrictions were lifted.  Since then, hospitalizations have reached their highest level since February 27, 2022, with the numbers still increasing.

But even amid the current wave, Jamaica’s Minister of Tourism, Edmund Bartlett, is optimistic that the country’s COVID-19 measures bolster the recovery of the tourism sector as well as the economic recovery of the country. 

In an interview with MIC, Minister Bartlett said there were several measures that allowed the tourism sector to be the sector that is driving Jamaica’s economic recovery.

In addition to the setting up of the resilient corridors, purchasing of personal protective equipment (PPE), and training for staff in the tourism sector, the government offered US$1.2 billion in grants to tourism businesses according to DEVEX data. It also offered US$ 13 million specifically to Small and Medium Tourism Enterprises (SMTEs), through the Tourism Enhancement Fund (TEF). According to Minister Bartlett, the move formed “part of the government’s commitment to help these small tourism businesses retool and rebound amid the COVID-19 pandemic”.

Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) reported small and medium enterprises (SMEs) were among the hardest hit by COVID-19 related measures across the Caribbean region. According to the bank, 36 percent of SMEs reported a workforce reduction in comparison to 20 percent among larger organisations.

Jamaica’s tourism arrival dropped by approximately 70 percent in 2020, “just a few months after the successful conclusion of its economic reform program” according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

But Minister Bartlett said that Jamaica’s tourism sector is almost back to pre-pandemic performance in terms of tourism arrivals and foreign exchange. 

Some experts have varying views on the rate of Jamaica’s economy recovery. The United Nations Resident Coordinator’s Office (UNRCO) and the University of the West Indies, Mona created a Jamaica Economy Panel (JEP) in 2021. In this panel, General Manager of IDB Country Department, Therese Turner- Jones, said that “tourism will not return to pre-crisis levels until Jamaicans are fully vaccinated”. But as of June 5, 2022, only approximately 24 percent of the Jamaican population has been fully vaccinated, which is one of the lowest in the Caribbean region. Turner-Jones also said that “global travel will only get back on track towards the end of 2023”.

The JEP also reported that “many of the experts that do not believe a full recovery can take place until 2025 or later, focus on the structural weaknesses of the Jamaican economy and point to the fact that growth rates were low before the crisis, highlighting the absence of structural reforms that would enable to economy to grow more rapidly”.

In 2020, Economics Advisor with the IDB’s Caribbean Department, Henry Mooney said “the nature of the unfolding COVID-19 crisis is such that it is likely to affect a number of key sectors of Jamaica’s economy. First among these is the tourism sector, which accounts for a very large share of both total economic output and employment (34 percent and 31 percent, respectively)”.

In a 2022 interview with MIC, Mooney confirmed his earlier predictions, highlighting that the latest data suggest that Jamaica is now the 11th most tourism dependent economy in the world since 2020. 

But Mooney also said that the Government of Jamaica and the Bank of Jamaica must be commended for some fiscal policies that helped to reduce the impact of the pandemic. 

Members of the JEP also agree with Mooney’s assessment, with most of the experts saying that the government’s response was adequate.

Minister Bartlett said recognizing the impact of the COVID-19 on other countries allowed Jamaica to respond quickly. 

Minister Bartlett also said that the global economic recovery from the pandemic has created additional issues such as shortages in the supply chain and human capital. 

IDB Economics Advisor, Henry Mooney, added that as Jamaica and the world emerges from the pandemic, the war in Europe, inflation and the monkeypox outbreak all have the potential to delay Jamaica’s economic recovery. 

But Minister Bartlett said that Jamaica is prepared to respond to epidemiological disruptions like monkeypox. 

He also added that he does not foresee the country going back into lockdown as lives and livelihoods must be balanced in addition to the fact that the new strains of COVID-19 are less deadly. But he also encouraged more citizens to get vaccinated to reduce hospitalisations. 

Mooney said that Jamaica needs to continue to create fiscal buffers flexible economic policies to remain resilient to external shocks. 

As of June 5, 2022, Jamaica recorded approximately three thousand deaths and one hundred and thirty thousand confirmed COVID-19 cases.

Kingston, February 25, 2022 (MIC) -

Public Healthcare System Under Pressure despite Capital Injections

Minister of Finance and the Public Service, Dr. Nigel Clarke, said in his opening speech of the 2021/2022 budget debate that the fiscal pressures of COVID-19 on the healthcare system continues to increase.

 “More drugs have been required, more personal protective equipment is necessary, and more employees have been added, including more community health aides. In addition, increased hours and utilisation of clinics and hospitals leads to an increased usage of security, canteen, cleaning, and other services”, Dr. Clarke said.

 According to the Caribbean Policy Research Institute (CAPRI), the Government of Jamaica (GOJ) launched a US$160 million* stimulus package—the largest in the country’s history for any disaster—one month after the first COVID-19 case was reported in the country in 2020.

 Since then, Jamaica has received over US$3 million in grants and donations geared specifically towards the purchase of equipment, hospital beds and supporting the health system, according to Devex data. The country also received US$175 million through loans from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), which according to the bank was to help in ensuring ensure the “timely availability of public resources to address the health emergency caused by COVID-19”.

 President of the Medical Association of Jamaica, Dr. Brian James, says the main aims of a healthcare delivery system are to prevent death and help patients return to normal functioning. He also says that the system must also be supported by adequate preventative measures and protocols.

To date the GOJ has allocated approximately US$70 million* to the Ministry of Health & Wellness to spend on vaccine procurement, storage, distribution and administration; personal protective equipment (PPE); Regional Health Authorities (RHAs) supplies; public education material and a web-based vaccine management system.

 * USD to JMD conversion calculated at 1 to 156.

The country’s vaccination target was two million people by March 2022. But as of February 21, 2022, only 644,000 people or 21.8% of the population were vaccinated.

Healthcare System under Pressure

Dr. James, says this vaccine hesitancy has led to the most recent Omicron wave, which may add sustained pressure to the public healthcare system. 

Burn out Doctors

General Surgeon assigned to the Western Regional Health Authority (WRHA), Dr. Gerald Howard*, says he has had to give up time and space for the care of COVID-19 patients. He also says he and his colleagues experience burnout daily.

 “When you stroll pass a doctor or nurse and ask, ‘how are you?’ The answer 99.999% of the time is ‘I am tired of this place and want to leave’. The government has now stipulated that staff members are not allowed to take vacation leave. If the staff is frustrated, tired, and demotivated how do one expect to get the best out of them when they can’t even get proper rest and a well-deserved break to buoy their spirits?” Howard adds.

 Howard admits that these issues existed before the pandemic but says that “governments placed a ‘band aid’ over it then and they have done the same now”.

 Pediatrician in the Southern Regional Health Authority, Christopher Davis*, says that the MOHW and the Regional Health Authorities could barely receive a passing grade for their management of the health sector during the pandemic.

 “Politics was, in many instances, allowed to plunder public health. Vaccination uptake, for example, would have been more successful if doctors and other public health officials were allowed to be at the forefront instead of those in politics seeking political mileage. The overall treatment of healthcare professionals has actually taken a turn for the worse since the pandemic and this is the view of many workers who are making preparations to exit the sector”, Davis adds.

 Dr. James says it was hard to predict the degree of severity the pandemic would have had on doctors but says it has also affected non-medical workers in the system.

He adds that care for non-COVID-19 patients is affected because COVID-19 patients need more staff, space, and attention.

 Senior House Officer assigned to the South-Eastern Regional Health Authority, Dr. Julian Gordon, says he was working at a hospital within the region but was reassigned to a health centre to oversee vaccinations.

 “Four of the wards were turned into isolation wards. These wards were always packed because as soon as a patient was discharged or died, there was another positive patient on the regular wards waiting to be transferred. Some of my colleagues were taken from their specialties of interest to work on the isolation wards for a period. The Accident and Emergency area at the hospital has taken a part of its space to create an isolation area for suspected and confirmed patients”, Dr. Gordon adds.

 On January 21, 2022, the MOHW reported that COVID-19 beds were at full capacity and that all public hospitals would be restricted to emergency care only. Health and Wellness Minister Dr. Christopher Tufton also wished a “speedy recovery to all healthcare workers who are ill or otherwise affected by COVID-19”.

 Dr. Gordon says some of his colleagues have resigned in favour of other careers while others have been diagnosed with depression.

 MAJ President, Dr. James, says there is a general feeling of helplessness among frontline workers.

But Dr. James highlights that the psychological support is more used by the non-medical staff than the doctors.

Unvaccinated Doctors

 General Surgeon, Dr. Howard says he is not vaccinated because he believes there has not even enough studies on the long-term effects of the vaccine.

 “There are many medications, procedures, and instruments that are studied and approved but must be recalled years after being used in thousands of patients for various reasons. For me there is not enough studies to make an informed decision to take the vaccine given the fact that all forms of treatment carry risk no matter how trivial that treatment may seem”, he adds.

 Dr. James says Dr. Howard is in the minority among doctors.

But he says that he is not worried about patients contracting COVID-19 from doctors because the use of personal protective equipment (PPE) is mandatory, and the quality is frequently assessed.

Outdated Public Hospitals

 Dr. James adds that there are serious concerns among doctors about the physical integrity of public hospitals.

In November 2021, it was reported that some hospitals would be repaired. According to Minister Tufton, “we have to look carefully at how we live with COVID and get back to the normality that is required to give equal access to public healthcare”. The first Omicron case was detected in Jamaica one month later, followed by the fourth wave of the pandemic.

‘Low Fact Diet’

 Some doctors are afraid to share their views publicly due to the highly polarised environment.

As of February 21, 2022, there were over two thousand deaths and over one hundred thousand confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Jamaica.

* Names were changed for confidentiality purposes.

Kingston, July 31, 2021 (MIC) -

COVID-19 and Jamaica’s Food Security: experts say women, farmers and fisherfolk vital for Jamaica’s food security

According to the 2020 International Food Security Assessment conducted by the United States Department of Agriculture Economic Research Service (USDA ERS), food insecurity in Jamaica exceeded their year-end projection by 100% (from 200,000 to 400,000 people). But even before COVID-19, there were concerns that the diet of the average Jamaican resulted high levels of obesity and noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), which caused more people to be vulnerable to the effects of COVID-19. The World Bank also reported that “an increasing number of countries are facing growing levels of acute food insecurity, reversing years of development gains” (World Bank 2021).

Food Security and its Pillars

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization, food security is achieved when “all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient safe and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life. The four pillars or dimensions are availability, access, utilisation and stability. According to members of various industries and research data, all these pillars were affected by COVID-19 in Jamaica. 

Food Prices and Availability

Shortly after the first confirmed case of COVID-19 in Jamaica in March 2020, there were several reports and complaints of price gouging against supermarket, wholesale and pharmacy owners. An order was passed in the House of Representatives on March 25, 2020 that retailers found to be charging customers exorbitant prices for goods during the pandemic could be fined up to J$2 million. But according to the CEO of the Consumer Affairs Commission (CAC), Dolsie Allen, although several formal reports of price gouging were made, only a handful met the threshold for possible action. But CEO of Super Plus Food Stores, Wayne Chen, says that price gouging is a very emotive term. 

CEO of the Jamaica Chamber of Commerce (JCC), Larry Watson, also cautioned consumers to prepare for further price increases due to a significant rise in shipping costs.

In a study on the impact of COVID-19 on food security in Caribbean households, it was reported that most households in Jamaica identified supermarkets as their primary source of food. It also reported that 84% of the respondents were severely affected by the food price increases during the pandemic (see figure 1).

 Figure 1: Food price increase felt by household most affected by the crisis

 Nearly 1 in 5 Households Reported Moderate to Severe Hunger

Mr. Chen says that many people believe that there is no hunger especially in rural Jamaica because people can easily just pick fruits off a tree. He says that this is not the case because fruits are seasonal and eating sufficiently does not always mean eating healthily.  Head of the School of Allied Health and Wellness at the University of Technology and Registered Nutritionist, Dr Vanessa White-Barrow, agrees with Mr. Chen. She adds that “for some of the households there has been loss of income or reduced income, and this has further exacerbated the challenge. Many of them just can't afford the prices of healthier food options”.  

In a survey of 24 Jamaican communities, the Caribbean Policy Research Institute (CAPRI) reported that 1 in 5 respondents were unemployed before COVID-19 and that unemployment doubled during the pandemic.

The government issued a series of grants to mitigate the effects of the pandemic through the COVID Allocation of Resources for Employees (CARE) programme. Some of these were the Compassionate Grant (a one-time payment of J$10,000), Set Cash (J$9,000 fortnightly to the

end of June 2020, for laid off employees), and Best Cash (J$9,000 fortnightly for tourism sector employees). There was also the Programme of Advancement through Health and Education (PATH), which is a conditional cash transfer programme that caters to vulnerable groups such as children, poor adults, the elderly, and people with disabilities. But Assistant Lecturer in the Department of Economics at the University of the West Indies, Jevon Henry, says that these programmes do not often reach the people who need the most help.

The CAPRI study also indicated that approximately 8% of Jamaicans over the age of 18 do not have legal proof of identity and 20 % of the adult population are unbanked. Both factors create significant challenges in accessing grants. But Mr. Chen says that value added cards is a far more efficient way to issue grants.

Mr. Henry also identifies mothers as experts on household budgeting.

Mr. Henry also agrees that value added cards could make the process more efficient but adds that “it's always a question of how do you assist the poorest of the poor? Do you go with conditional cash transfers, things that they have certain requirements or restricted transfers like a card where you can only purchase certain things or unconditional cash transfers? You get the $10 and you decide what you want to do with it. People talk about it all the time—yes, you have people who are supposed to spend the money on the children but instead the parents spend it on other things. My own view is that it happens but in the minority. I think in the majority of cases, you give poor people money they actually use it for the things they actually need.

Dr. White-Barrow says that to help the most vulnerable, all sectors of society must contribute and rethink their approach.

Private sector organisations like J. Wray and Nephew Limited have donated food packages to the sum of US$10 million to assist members of vulnerable groups especially in rural communities 

Lockdowns may Increase Sedentary Lifestyles 

A 2014 World Bank report on the impact of the Ebola virus on West Africa said that the “more severe economic outcomes of that crisis were not due to costs associated with the disease itself but rather from changes in behaviour due to government-imposed aversion measures or behaviours driven by fear.” Dr. White-Barrow says that government measures like curfews and lockdowns, while well-meaning, may contribute to an already sedentary lifestyle that many Jamaicans live. 

She also adds that due to financial constraints linked to COVID-19, many Jamaicans are eating less processed foods and more provisions like yam, which could be seen as positive due to an increase in fibre intake but says that there should also be a greater push towards physical activity. According to the report on the impact of COVID-19 on Caribbean households, “consumption depends on the choices made by the individual in the context of both access to and pricing of goods and services. The harsh conditions in the communities, exacerbated by the COVID-19 measures, forced some of the respondents to survive by various means, including cultivating their own food”. The report viewed this as positive and said that it could mean “better nutrition, a possible realignment of children’s taste buds, and might be a contribution to import substitution”.

Figure 2: Change in the type of food consumed by those severely affected

Stability and Food Security Policies

Dr. White-Barrow believes that there is an existing framework for promoting food security but says that more needs to be done in terms of specific policies.

In June 2020, the Ministry of Industry, Commerce, Agriculture and Fisheries announced it would be allocating US$7 million to support farmers and fisherfolk recover from the impact of COVID-19.

Mr. Chen says that there is room for improvement in terms of food security in Jamaica, but the country is much less vulnerable than others.

Jamaica imported approximately US$900 million worth of food in 2020, with approximately 42% being supplied by the United States. Approximately 60 percent of the country’s food imports go to hotels, restaurants, and large institutions (the HRI sector). The other 40% goes to consumers through wholesale and retail outlets such as supermarkets and small community shops.

Kingston, July 31, 2021 (MIC) -

COVID-19 Budgetary Allocation 

The CIJN obtained a document from the Ministry of Finance and Public Service detailing the breakdown of the GOJ budgetary allocation in response to COVID-19, between March 2020 and March 2021. The document also identifies source of funding and purpose

Vaccine Implementation

Jamaica is currently in Phase 2 of its vaccine implementation plan after receiving its first doses of COVID-19 vaccines in March 2021. As of July 23, 2021, the WHO reported a total of 300,902 vaccine doses being administered, which is 122,174 fully vaccinated people or approximately 4% of the population according to the Johns Hopkins COVID-19. However, there is some inconsistency in the data as the Ministry of Health and Wellness reported that 9% of the population has been vaccinated based on the number of first and second doses administered (see diagram 1.2 below).  

Phase 3 is scheduled to begin in August with a focus on the general population and those 18 years and over.


Vaccine Availability

COVAX Facility 

Since Jamaica received its first shipment of COVID-19 vaccines in March 2021, through the COVAX Facility, there have been several additional purchases and vaccine donations. The COVAX Facility is the ‘largest vaccine procurement and supply operation in history” and is a global effort between the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, UNICEF, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) and the World Health Organization (WHO) . According to the Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, 124,800 doses of AstraZeneca were allocated through the COVAX Facility.

Donations

The government of Mexico donated 65,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine to Jamaica through the Direct Relief charity on June 30, 2021. On July 28, 2021, Foreign Affairs Minister, Kamina Johnson Smith, said that 300,000 doses of the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccines would arrive in Jamaica on July 30. The shipments arrived as scheduled and with reporting saying that it is “the largest batch of vaccines to have arrived in Jamaica since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic” . The shipment was a donation from the United Kingdom. It is reported that the largest vaccination blitz on the island since the beginning of the pandemic will take place between Saturday July 31 to Thursday August 5 at 20 sites across multiple parishes. This blitz will facilitated by the 300,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine donated by the UK.

Procurement

It was reported on June 11, 2021, that Minister of Health and Wellness, Dr Christopher Tufton, announced that Jamaica made a down payment of J$350 million for 1.9 million doses of Johnson & Johnson vaccine. He said the first shipment is to arrive in August, and that “approximately 1.4 million doses of vaccines – both double and single doses,  are expected in the island over the next few months up to the end of September”. 

Vaccine Hesitancy

Jamaica is one of the least vaccinated countries in the Latin American and Caribbean region with only approximately 10 doses per 100 people of the population. According to Statista, as of July 25, Jamaica lags behind other English speaking Caribbean countries in administered doses like St. Kitts and Nevis (81.2), Antigua and Barbuda (67.93), Barbados (60.18), and Trinidad and Tobago (36.92). It must be noted however that this data was calculated based on single doses, and does not represent the total number of people vaccinated. It has been reported that there is high vaccine hesitancy among essential workers such as the Jamaica Fire Brigade with approximately 11% of their staff being fully vaccinated, 24% of teachers and 21% of the Constabulary Force, as of July 25, 2021. On July 27, it was reported that the Prime Minister warned teachers that if they did not get the vaccine in time for the start of school in September, they would not receive the same treatment as fully vaccinated teachers, in terms of COVID-19 testing and compensation. However, the Jamaica Teachers’ Association has said that teachers are wary of the rising numbers and its implication for the resumption of face-to-face classes. In a virtual town hall meeting in June 11, the Prime Minister urged teachers over the age of 60 to get vaccinated due to the higher risk of fatality among that age group. While speaking at a function on July 16, Prime Minister Andrew Holness encouraged influencers in different interest groups to use their influence to counteract vaccine hesitancy. CIJN also published a story on the reluctance to take the vaccine among groups like the Rastafari in Jamaica. The Prime Minister also said that more advertisements and public service announcements will be used to increase the country’s vaccination rates. In a press conference on July 26, the Prime Minister again urged the population to take the vaccine to avoid a third wave of the virus. In an effort to increase the vaccination rate, the Government of Jamaica launched their Vaccine Incentive Programme on July 15, 2021, through the Social and Economic Recovery with Vaccines for Jamaica Programme (SERVE). Through the incentive programme, individuals 60 years and over will receive J$10,000 once they are fully vaccinated.

Private sector companies like Supreme Ventures have also incentivized vaccinations by offering lottery cash prizes through their Vax and Win campaign.

Mandatory Vaccinations 

On July 20, the Minister of Health and Wellness, Dr Christopher Tufton, said that Jamaica may have to consider mandatory vaccinations to reduce the spread of the COVID-19 virus. However, this was received with mixed views. President of the Jamaica Employers’ Federation (JEF), David Wan, said that the government should take the lead on discussing the possibility of mandatory vaccines in the workplace but said that there must be an adequate supply of vaccines on the island before a definitive decision is made. He also added trade unions are currently discussing the issue in order to come to an agreement. In a digital press conference on August 9, the Prime Minister said that “as it stands now, and we have discussed it in Cabinet, the Government is not thinking about, nor inclined to mandate any vaccines. In fact, we don’t believe that is something that would meet the constitutional test”. He also announced tighter restrictions in light of a spark spike in COVID-19 cases. In a joint statement received from the Private Sector Organization of Jamaica (PSOJ), several private sector and social groups urged Jamaican citizens to get the vaccine, adding that “some private sector companies are committed to getting their employees and their families vaccinated to ensure their safety and to get as many Jamaicans as possible back to life” (see full statement below).

Kingston, may 31, 2021 (MIC) -

Vaccine Implementation

Jamaica is currently in Phase 1 of its vaccine implementation plan after receiving its first doses of COVID-19 vaccines in March 2021. The World Health Organization tracks vaccine distribution on the island.

As of May 21, 2021, the WHO reported a total of 164,703 vaccine doses have been administered. As of the date of this report the Johns Hopkins COVID-19 vaccine tracker reported approximately 14,000 people receiving two doses of the vaccine, which means that less than 1% of the Jamaican population has been fully vaccinated. Jamaica COVID-19 tracking website provides data on several COVID-related categories but not vaccine figures as shown in this screenshot example:

The country administered 75000 vaccine doses donated by the South African government and Africa Medical Supplies Platform (AMSP) [INSERT LINK: Jamaica also received 50,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine as a donation from India. According to the vaccination plan, the government seeks to vaccinate 16% of the population (approximately 468,000 people) with 935,677 doses of the vaccine, by the end of phase 1 in June 2021. However, Jamaica’s current vaccination numbers fall short of the projections in the implementation plan (see diagram 2 & 3).

Reuters’ vaccine tracker says with approximately 1000 doses being administered per day, it would take Jamaica a “further 497 days to administer enough doses for another 10% of the population.” Chairman of the NHF, Howard Mitchell, said in a press release of 31st March 2021, that the country needs another one million double dose or 500,000 single dose vaccines to achieve herd immunity.

COVID-19 Fiscal Stimulus Response 

The Jamaican government approved a J$25 billion (US$168 million) stimulus to support the country’s economic activity during the pandemic. It was also reported that the government will continue to provide financial support through the COVID Allocation of Resources for Employees (CARE) programme. The CARE programme has four categories:

• Business Employee Support and Transfer of Cash (BEST Cash) – which will provide temporary cash transfer to businesses in targeted sectors based on the number of workers they keep employed.

•  Supporting Employees with Transfer of Cash (SET Cash) for individuals who have lost employment since March 10, 2020.

• Soft loan fund to assist individuals and businesses.

• COVID-19 grants for poor and vulnerable groups.

However, the Ministry of Finance and Public Service reported in May 2021 that J$300 million (US$ 2 million) worth of CARE applications that were that were processed, verified, and approved remains uncollected.

Kingston, April 2, 2021 (MIC) -

Vaccine Deployment

On March 15, Jamaica became the first Caribbean country to receive the AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccine through the COVAX facility. Jamaica received 14,400 doses and is scheduled to receive additional vaccines through May, up to 124,800 doses. However, in an interview on Nationwide 90FM on March 22, the Foreign Affairs Minister—Kamina Johnson Smith—said that the COVAX initiative “has not delivered on expectation”. In response to a request by the MIC for further clarification on her comment, the Office of Minister Johnson said: 

The COVAX facility was created in April 2020 to facilitate the pooled procurement and equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines.  It represents one of the world’s largest and most diverse portfolio of COVID-19 vaccines. As of 25th March, 2021, over 32 million COVID-19 vaccines have been shipped to over 60 participants.

 Due to the challenges associated with supply chains, the fact that demand exceeds supply and that some countries are stockpiling vaccines, the expectations of many countries, like Jamaica, have not been met. In instances, vaccines have not been delivered within the expected timelines or in the expected quantities. We note that when delays occur, delivery quantities have been adjusted and determined on a pro-rata share of currently available vaccine supplies, so that doses of the particular vaccine can in turn be allocated to participants in the Facility who requested that vaccine.  The reality is that for countries which are depending on the Facility, the impact is significant as there are limits to the alternatives that can be realistically pursued to meet shortfalls at this juncture.  

 Jamaica is deeply appreciative of the support received to date, and is confident that the Facility will ultimately deliver.  We are heartened not only by receipt of a small quantity, but by recent deliveries to Suriname and Guyana close to home. The concern however remains that supplies are needed urgently by countries whose plans have been built around COVAX deliveries.

 Jamaica has implemented a phased approach for its vaccine rollout with an aim to vaccinate 65% of the population by March 31, 2022. According to the deployment plan, the government seeks to vaccinate 16% of the population (approximately 468,000 people) with 935,677 doses of the vaccine, in phase 1 (see diagram 1 for cost breakdown). The country is currently is in phase 1 (see diagram 2), which consists of:

1. Healthcare workers

2. Non-health frontline workers such as the:

   1. Police

   2. Army

   3. Correctional services

   4. Customs and immigration officers

3. Parliamentarians

4. Persons in infirmaries

5. The elderly over 60 years

6. Nursing home residents and their staff

7. Institutionalized persons

However, with India’s latest announcement that it is temporarily halting all exports of the AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccine due to rising domestic cases, it is unclear how the vaccine rollout will be affected (see diagram 3). 

Diagram 1: Vaccine Costs

Diagram 2: Phase 1 Vaccines 

Diagram 3: Overall Implementation

COVID Relief from the Jamaican Private Sector 

Amber Group 

While technology has been useful in providing up-to-date information during the pandemic, one of the notable challenges is the security risk to its users. For example, Jamaica’s JamCOVID19 app no longer allows for the screenshotting of analytic data due to three security breaches, which exposed quarantine orders on more than half a million travelers to the island. The app was taken offline and it was reported on February 21 that the CEO of the company (Amber Group) responsible for the app, Dushyant Savadia, said that there were “no further vulnerabilities”. The first breach was reported by the online newspaper, TechCrunch, On February who said it discovered that the cloud storage for the app was not password protected. The JamCOVID app was reportedly provided to the government of Jamaica for free but it is a lesson for Caribbean countries implementing technological solutions in such situations. Up-to-date data can be found on the Ministry of Health & Wellness (MOHW) website. 

Sandals Foundation 

In May 2020, the Sandals Foundation said it donated approximately US$34,000 toward the purchase of ventilators, through the Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica (PSOJ), for hospitals identified by the MOHW. The Foundation also reported that they donated an addition US$14,000 to the PSOJ Covid-19 Response Fund to support food security and welfare needs in Jamaica.

Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica (PSOJ)

The PSOJ launched its COVID-19 Jamaica Response Fund on April 3, 2020 and has raised approximately US$1.3 million to date. The fund was created to help feed vulnerable families, children and the elderly. 

COVID Relief from International Organisations

Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) 

Since then, The Caribbean Development Bank has awarded grants to some cultural projects in Jamaica and other Caribbean countries “through an initiative to provide emergency relief to the creative industries (CI) sector in the wake of COVID-19”, as part of the Cultural and Creative Industries Innovation Fund (CIIF). This fund provides assistance to entrepreneurs in the creative industries who would have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.  One of the Jamaican recipients of the CDB-CIIF Emergency Relief Grant was Kingston Creative, who was awarded US$8,000. Headline Entertainment and CaribTix Jamaica Limited were also awarded US$18,000 for their collaborative project. However, after speaking with representatives from each company, the monies have yet to be received. 

World Bank

On February 16, 2021, The World Bank announced that it had approved an additional US$10 million towards the Jamaica Foundations for Competitiveness and Growth Project. US$50 million was initially approved for the project in 2014 but the World Bank Resident Representative for Jamaica and Guyana, Ozan Sevimli, said that the “additional financing will support initiatives that encourage business growth in Jamaica and strengthen the environment for private sector investment. These changes are more critical now than ever, as the private sector has been hit hard by the economic and social impacts of COVID-19”. The World Bank also approved US$150 million for the Jamaica COVID-19 Response and Recovery Development Policy Loan on March 18, 2021, which Sevimli said “supports the expansion of the country’s social protection programs to benefit women and men disproportionately affected by the [COVID-19] crisis and introduces a social pension for the elderly”.

Kingston, February 28, 2021 (MIC) -

According to the Pan American Health Organization, “Jamaica started preparedness for any possible introduction of the novel coronavirus – COVID-19 in early January 2020, immediately following identification of the novel coronavirus on 7 January 2020 in China” (2020, p. 1). The first confirmed case was a Jamaican woman who arrived from the UK on March 4, 2020.

Jamaica took a proactive approach towards ensuring there was access to data on COVID 19 as well as institute a mechanism for tracking visitors. This signalled the introduction of the JamCovid mobile app. The following screenshots exhibit the type of information and illustrations the app provides. (Diagrams show statistics as of February 24, 2021).

Data source: JamCOVID19 app

Diagram 2: Parish view

 Data source: JamCOVID19 app

According to the Preliminary Overview of the Economies of Latin America and the Caribbean (of ... 2021), the Jamaican economy posted a decline of 1.7% in the first quarter of 2020 and 18% in the second quarter. Growth was 0.9 % in 2019 and is projected at -9% in 2020 and 2% in 2021. At the sixth and final review of the US$ 1.64 billion stand-by agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on 4 November 2019, the Executive Board of IMF said that Jamaica’s sustained policy discipline, together with its fully operational fiscal council and independent central bank, would help institutionalize the gains achieved under the successive Fund-supported programmes. The impact of COVID-19 will derail some of the hard-won fiscal gains made over time, and the balance of payments is likely to deteriorate by as much as 6% of GDP as tourism receipts decline (ECLAC, 2020, p. 1).

Since the beginning of the pandemic, several organisations have given grants, donations and loans in the form of COVID relief to the island. 

Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) 

Since then, The Caribbean Development Bank has awarded grant funding to some cultural projects in Jamaica and other Caribbean countries “through an initiative to provide emergency relief to the creative industries (CI) sector in the wake of COVID-19”, as part of the Cultural and Creative Industries Innovation Fund (CIIF). This fund provides assistance to entrepreneurs in the creative industries who would have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.  One of the Jamaican recipients of the CDB-CIIF Emergency Relief Grant was Kingston Creative, which received US$8,000. Headline Entertainment and CaribTix Jamaica Limited received US$18,000 for their collaborative project. 

Inter-American Development Bank (IDB)

Though not directly related to COVID-19 relief, The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) “approved a programmatic policy-based loan of $100 million to support the strengthening of Jamaica’s health systems to better prevent and manage the care of non-communicable diseases”. However, this is relevant to the pandemic since according to IDB Jamaica Country Representative and General Manager for the Caribbean Country Group, Therese Turner-Jones, “5% of COVID-19 patients develop severe complications, and those who have chronic conditions are at higher risk of progressing to more severe forms of the disease, require intensive care and mechanical ventilation”.

International Monetary Fund (IMF)

The IMF reported that it approved approximately US$520 million for Jamaica on May 15, 2020 under the Rapid Financing Instrument (RFI) to help the country “meet the urgent balance of payment needs stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic, while catalyzing additional support from development partners”.

 U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)

The United States, through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), committed to providing US$700,000 in a release published on April 1, 2020. They then committed an additional US$300,000 on May 28, 2020. According to the agency, the funds will go directly toward Jamaica’s emergency response and more specifically in the areas of: 

• Infection prevention and control in health-care facilities.

• Laboratory strengthening to prepare laboratory systems for large-scale testing of COVID-19.

• Communications to help educate people on steps they can take to prevent and respond to the spread of the virus through country-specific media campaigns.

• Surveillance and rapid response to enhance with case-finding and event-based surveillance for COVID-19.

• Provide targeted social support to vulnerable groups.

 UNICEF

On September 29, 2020 it was reported that UNICEF donated $40 million to the Ministry of Labour and Social Security to help vulnerable families affected by COVID-19, through the Ministry’s Programme of Advancement through Health and Education (PATH). The funding came through the UN’s COVID-19 Response and Recovery Multi-Partner Trust Fund and focused specifically on families with children with disabilities and pregnant women. 

 World Bank

The World Bank is providing financial support to countries like Jamaica through a budget support operation.  Details of this proposed arrangement will be explored in the next country report for Jamaica.