Ja: U.S. lightening Jamaica's debt-load

THE country's forestry conservation efforts will benefit from a subsidised debt swap agreement being finalised between the Jamaican and United States Governments.

Under the agreement, a minimum of US$7.8 million of Jamaica's debt to the US will be retired in exchange for investment in the restoration and protection of parks, protected areas and forest reserves in the island.

Agriculture Minister Roger Clarke told his post-budget news briefing yesterday that negotiations were at an advanced stage between the Ministry of Finance and the US Government on the agreement, categorised as a debt for nature swap.

Clarke told Parliament Tuesday that the subsidised debt swap agreement was being negotiated "following a positive response by the US Government to an expression of interest by the Government of Jamaica in gaining debt relief under the United States' Tropical Forest Conservation Act (TFCA).