Quote Originally Posted by Rob View Post
While that was true about 15 years ago, the interest payment to the IMF is not the problem.

The Jamaican government made significant strides in reducing interest payments to the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The efforts resulted in a sharp decline in payments, and the government’s interest bill fell from 17% of GDP in 2009 to 6% in 2019.

The last year I could find that data was 2019.
I would concur that the Jamaican government's moves in recent years have been some of the most fiscally responsible ones made to date but there is still a lot of debt. While the austerity program has helped reduce the public debt to GDP ratio that you mention it is still substantial and there is debt other than the IMF and World Bank particularly to China. Most recently in 2021 during the COVID-19 lockdowns the ratio increased over 100% and has since declined but it is still high as the recession that hit Jamaica due to the lockdowns cut deep. Tourism is set to be at record levels this upcoming year so it should continue to improve. Foreign debt continues to be a major hinderance to public infrastructure projects though and the growing amount of Chinese debt is something to really watch closely.