Jamaica US$1b bond raise reflects post-Melissa confidence, says finance minister

Jamaica raised US$1 billion from the international capital markets on Wednesday at a coupon of 6.25 per cent, the lowest coupon the country has paid on an international bond.

It was the government's first US dollar issuance in more than a decade and its first benchmark transaction since Hurricane Melissa struck in October 2025, causing damage exceeding half of Jamaica's annual output.

"Less than a year after a storm that caused damage and loss equivalent to more than half of our Gross Domestic Product (GDP), international investors have chosen to lend to Jamaica at a rate that reflects confidence in this country and in the discipline Jamaicans have shown over more than a decade," Finance and Public Service Minister Fayval Williams said. The minister attributed that confidence to Jamaican families and businesses, earned through years of difficult fiscal decisions.