The majority of the US$1.7 billion that was approved for Jamaica by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Executive Board will be used as insurance against risks brought on by rising commodity prices, a global slowdown, tighter-than-anticipated global financial conditions, and fresh COVID outbreaks, the IMF announced on Thursday.

According to a statement from the financial institution based in Washington, a 24-month programme for around US$968 million had been granted under the Precautionary and Liquidity Line (PLL) arrangement.

The remaining US$764 million has been authorised under the recently established Resilience and Sustainability Facility (RSF) to increase economic and physical resilience to climate change, promote economic decarbonization, and control transition risks.

The RSF is anticipated to stimulate funding from other official lenders and the business sector for investments connected to climate change.

The COVID-19 pandemic, the Ukraine conflict, and the continued tightening of international financial conditions, according to the IMF, have all had a negative impact on Jamaica over the past few years.

The economy is now strongly recovering, it was stated, thanks to sound policy frameworks and measures that put macroeconomic stability first.