Jamaica PM says COVID-19 justifies further extension of region’s debt repayment timelines

Jamaica Prime Minister Andrew Holness

Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness wants a further extension of the Debt Service Suspension Initiative (DSSI) by the Group of 20 (G-20) nations for Caribbean countries as a further response to effects of the COVID-19 pandemic in the region.

As of now the facility is in place until June, and Holness is seeking an extension of that cutoff point, asserting that this measure is justified by the challenges which the pandemic has brought about for poor countries that have “come at tremendous socio-economic costs” and that those countries “have borne the burden of steep cuts in public expenditures.”