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Jamaica

Jamaica's debt situation is bleak. The country has experienced four straight years of economic decline. The government will need to borrow US$ 1.3 billion  to finance its 2000/01 budget. The government's strategy of using high interest rates to quell inflation have had the side effect of driving interest payments on the public debt to nearly 60% of government expenditures.
Substantial revenue increases have come through the dismantling of the government telecom monopoly over the past three years. Already, US$200 million has been earned from selling licenses to Cellular One Caribbean of St. Maarten and to Mossel of Ireland. Further cash injections have come from the privatization of the power monopoly, Jamaica Public Service Company (US$180 million), and a new levy on the Bauxite industry (US$90 million).