Nigel Clarke has replaced Audley Shaw as Jamaica’s finance minister as part of a cabinet reshuffle by Prime Minister Andrew Holness.
Shaw leaves the Ministry of Finance and the Public Service to take the helm at the Ministry of Industry, Commerce, Agriculture and Fisheries (MICAF), the prime minister’s office said in a statement.
Holness also promoted Fayval Williams as minister without portfolio in the Ministry of Finance. Williams was previously the minister of state in the ministry.
Clarke won a by-election in Saint Andrew North West on March 5 which allowed the center-right Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) to keep a majority in parliament. He previously served as the deputy chairman of the government’s Economic Growth Council and was a senator for the JLP from 2013 to 2015.
The Holness government presented a $774 billion budget earlier this month and said it needs to borrow $103 billion in 2018 and 2019, with $78.1 billion from the local market and $25.1 billion from international markets.
“This borrowing requirement represents a 48.4% reduction in total loan receipts when compared with fiscal year 2017-18,” Shaw said when he introduced the budget to parliament on March 8. “The lower borrowing requirement reflects the significantly lower amortization costs for fiscal year 2018-19 and the planned utilization of existing cash resources.”
Debt repayments account for 37.4% of the budget, or $289 billion, Shaw said. The debt servicing charges break down into $137 billion in interest payments and $152 billion in principal payments. The government had earmarked $379 billion to service the public debt in the 2017-2018 budget.