Many in Jamaica have been asking this question. How does the proposed "bailout" of the United States financial crisis affect Jamaica or any other country for that matter. Jamaica's Minister of Finance, Audley Shaw, was quoted as telling parliament that, "I should also indicate that, in terms of additional challenges that may arise in raising capital on the international capital markets, this is being supplemented by the Government's proactive agenda in re-engaging with multilateral institutions on an aggressive basis over the past year, and is now beginning to see the finalization of significant access to project and policy-based loans from the World Bank, Inter-American Development Bank and the Caribbean Development Bank, at attractive interest rates,"
Shaw also stated that, from all indications, the potential need for US dollar liquidity by institutions over the next few months was only a small portion of the current net international reserves (NIR) of the Bank of Jamaica of US$2.2 billion.
I wonder how this will affect the dollar "trade" in Jamaica. As many know Jamaica's dollar is valued much lower then the American dollar, which of course makes it a "ripe" market for the black market. With the current economic crisis hitting America, I wonder how long it will be before Jamaica's dollar surpasses America?
