Establishing Jamaica’s Independent Fiscal Commission
After the successful exit from an IMF support program, Jamaica’s Minister of Finance wanted to solidify the country’s significant fiscal gains and implement a framework which Jamaicans would hold themselves to account. Building a new independent fiscal institution is a challenging mission in any political context. From 2017 to 2020, IFSD principals worked with the Government of Jamaica and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) to design and establish Jamaica’s Independent Fiscal Commission.
To implement the Commission, the team assessed Jamaica’s parliamentary and executive contexts, its constitution, and civil society to present viable options for the design of an independent fiscal institution (IFI) and parliamentary research service. Through complex stakeholder engagement (key informant interviews, and focus groups) an institution was designed, aligned to legislation, and received Royal Assent in 2021 for implementation.
This project required best practice assessments, literature reviews, environmental scans, and stakeholder collaboration in complex and changing political environments. The team was required to work concurrently at the levels of political leadership, government officials and key stakeholders to best understand the unique features of Jamaica’s institutional and fiscal context. However, equally important was the leverage of the team’s experience and expertise working with IFIs across the OECD and World Bank communities, to leverage best practices based on the commonalities across jurisdictions.