Press Release

OPEC Fund supports poverty reduction scheme in Jamaica with US$5 million loan

41/2005 April 21, 2005, Vienna, Austria

The OPEC Fund for International Development today signed a US$5 million loan agreement with Jamaica to help finance the ongoing activities of the Jamaican Social Investment Fund (JSIF), a development initiative conceived within the framework of the government's national poverty alleviation program.

JSIF implements small-scale, demand-driven sub-projects, with the aim of improving infrastructure, boosting incomes and raising living standards among the rural poor.

The present project will support some 330 sub-projects that have been proposed by the beneficiary communities. Some will focus on social infrastructure development such as the construction, rehabilitation or expansion of schools, health and day-care centers, children’s homes, and facilities for the elderly and disabled, as well as the installation and repair of water supply and sanitation systems. Others will support economic infrastructure schemes consisting of the building or upgrading of feeder and urban access roads and community-based agro-processing facilities. Another component will support the implementation of capacity building measures to strengthen existing community organizations, NGOs and beneficiary groups. The OPEC Fund’s loan will directly co-finance 50 sub-projects.

This is the second loan the Fund has extended in support of JSIF. The Fund has also approved 12 other loans for Jamaica, including four for balance of payments support and eight project loans in the transportation, multi-sectoral, energy and education sectors. One loan and one line of credit have also been approved in support of private sector projects. In addition, several technical assistance grants have been extended in the areas of renewable energy and agricultural research, and one grant went towards a training program in elderly care.

Today’s agreement was signed in Vienna by H.E. Mr. Ransford A. Smith, Ambassador of Jamaica to Austria, and by H.E. Mr. Jamal Nasser Lootah, Chairman of the Governing Board of the OPEC Fund.

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