S&P Global affirms Jamaica’s credit rating

KINGSTON, Jamaica —S&P Global Ratings affirmed Jamaica’s ‘BB’ long-term and ‘B’ short-term sovereign credit ratings on Monday even as the fallout from Hurricane Melissa temporarily pushes debt higher and weighs on economic growth.

The international ratings agency expects the economy to contract 1.1 per cent in 2026 as Jamaica continues to recover from extensive damage to infrastructure, agriculture and tourism, particularly across western and southern sections of the island.

That view sits against a backdrop of an agriculture sector already strained by El Niño-driven drought and the hurricane’s lingering fallout. Tourism has seen tourist passenger arrivals down 20 per cent in the first half of 2026, with 28 per cent of hotel operators still shuttered for renovation at the end of July.