UN General Assembly
2016

Jamaica has no choice. Jamaica must repay its debts, and we are repaying our debts. However, the consequence of this is that no resources are available for the Government to make the kinds of public investment that stimulate economic growth. In addition, spending on critical issues, such as security — the absence of which negatively impacts growth — is compromised. In these circumstances, developing countries would previously be able to tap into development assistance that can be used for growth-inducing countercyclical investment in infrastructure, which in turn strengthens debt-repayment capacity. However, arbitrary classification, on the basis of gross domestic product (GDP) per capita, precludes HIMIC countries from accessing such resources. The problem is that while GDP per capita gives an indication of average incomes, it says nothing about a country’s stock of wealth, nor does it take into account the vulnerabilities that some countries face.