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According to Wayne Christopher Chen, Chairman of SuperPlus Food Stores, Jamaica's Southern Regional Health Authority, Chairman of CVM Television and Institute of Workplace Education & Development.
#Jamaica’s Net International Reserves (NIR) of US$5.5015 Billion at January 31, 2025 surpassed #TrinidadandTobago’s (US$5.4785 Billion) for the first time in my living memory. Claimed that he was alive before both countries gained Independence in 1962.

In reply to Slipfeeler

Reverse ATM a coming?

In reply to Slipfeeler

On a per capita basis it is only 50% of TT's !

Jamaica doesn't have a rainy day sovereign wealth fund. The tits do from a century of oil and gas and pitch sales.

In reply to Slipfeeler

Nothing to brag about after 53 years of independence - a well-constructed agricultural policy would have generated more than that in export over time!

.....

T&T...10 years ago it was approximately 12.5 billion US
Now its less than half...thanks to Rowley.
If T&T pays its external debt ...its broke.

In reply to XDFIX

Agreed if every Caribbean island was engaged in a strong agricultural industry, with these current market prices and export potential to North America, Latin America and Europe, would have eliminated most of our financial problems and less dependency on tourism.

In reply to Slipfeeler

Bro! that there is not true.

In reply to Slipfeeler

nah. we don't have the land or soil types to have any kind of significant agricultural sector beyond sugar and bananas. we saw in history that as soon as beet sugar became popular in the temperate countries, sugarcane prices dropped and the colonies fell into problems. Only guyana has the land space and soil productivity to compete with the agribusiness companies in brazil and argentina. And only trinidad has the potential to target a niche market like cocoa but even in that, the expenditure may not be worth the potential ROI. If they think importing from TT s too expensive, they can always buy from Ivory coast, which has less flavorful cocoa but is the world's largest supplier and put in additives.

In reply to Jumpstart

What about things like:
- Rice
- Poultry
- Dairy
- Sea Food
- Ground Provision
- Vegetables

Can't T&T be self sustaining in those areas? Didn't the Patrick Manning government (which Rowley was a member) introduce Mega Farms to address those concerns?

In reply to Jumpstart

We keep forgetting that our diaspora has created dependable markets in North America and Europe. In case of Jamaica with arguably about 4 million and counting in the diaspora, has a reliable export market, also other Caribbean countries have similar realities.

In reply to Slipfeeler

"4 million and counting" that me never did know.

English speaking Caribbean countries with the highest external Debts in US Dollars.
JAMAICA...7,384,000,000
TT...2,838,000,000
Guy...1,200,000,000
BIM...668,000,000
ANT...427,000,000
GRE...347,000,000
BAH...342,000,000

The other countries were small so I didn't put them,Jamaica debt is mainly for China.

In reply to camos

Dichotomy? Lil bit of divergence but for perspective. UGANDA- Pop 40M; NNR US$ 3.6B A resource rich country with two rainy seasons and one each of among the world's largest rivers and lakes. Dictator's 40yr rule being justified as getting rid of another leader and providing "stability"