In a historic move Jamaica’s finance minister, Dr. Nigel Clarke, has been appointed deputy managing director of the International Monetary Fund, IMF.
The revelation came Monday morning in a press release from the Office of the Prime Minister.
As we hear in this report from Chevon Campbell, Dr. Clarke is set to take up the second highest post at the multilateral effective October 31, 2024.
The IMF plays a significant role in the world economy, promoting global financial stability and monetary cooperation, in service of its 190 member countries.
In making the announcement, Prime Minister Andrew Holness, described his finance minister’s elevation as historic.
No citizen of Jamaica, the Caribbean, or Central America, prior to Dr. Clarke, has ever before served at this level in the Fund’s 80-year history.
Dr. Clarke replaces deputy managing director, Antoinette Sayeh, who goes off on retirement in September.
Similarly, Prime Minister Holness is now seeking to replace Dr. Clarke in the critical finance and public service portfolio. Mr. Holness says this is well in hand.
IMF managing director, Kristalina Georgieva, describes Dr. Clarke as an exceptional public servant and policymaker, with proven leadership in institution building and economic crisis management, who has stewarded his country’s economy to a stronger and more sustainable position.
She says since 2016, he’s been the IMF’s chief counterpart on successive and historically successful programmes for Jamaica.
These include an Extended Fund Facility, a precautionary stand-by arrangement, and most recently a precautionary liquidity line plus resilience and sustainability facility.
The IMF boss says Dr. Clarke is leaving the country with robust economic fundamentals.
Dr. Clarke is also the member of parliament for North Western St Andrew. Before entering representational politics, Dr. Clarke served in the Upper House of Parliament, from 2013 to 2015.
Minister Clarke’s public sector career includes on the boards of the National Housing Trust, the Port Authority of Jamaica, the HEART Trust/NSTA and the Bank of Jamaica.
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