UPDATED: CARICOM presses Ja to pay more into Caribbean Development Fund

CARICOM partners remained adamant yesterday that Jamaica should make further payments to the Caribbean Development Fund (CDF) after they were told ahead of one of the caucuses at the 40th Heads of Government Conference in St Lucia that the country could not afford to do so because of its tight fiscal space.

Regional leaders were presented with an update on payments yesterday, where it was disclosed that Jamaica had paid up in full its US$20 million (J$263 million). The impasse came about when Jamaica was being pressed into making further commitments for future payments.

This was flatly rejected by the Jamaican delegation, who posited that the country was unable to commit to any further CDF payments at this time, according to a source close to the discussion.

Up to late last night, a decision had not been made.

(EDITOR'S NOTE: A previous version of this article incorrectly identified the fund in question as the Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Fund)