Jamaicans overseas are being urged to invest in their country to help the island weather the current financial hurricane sweeping the globe.

Speaking at the 2009 Jamaica National Building Society's (JNBS) Outlook for The Future series in London and Birmingham, Jamaican officials said the island was ripe with investment opportunities and needed home-grown investors to capitalise on them.

"It's an investment paradise as well as a tourism paradise," said Laurence Jones, regional head of the European arm of the Jamaica Trade Investment (JTI). He told scores of Jamaicans and their descendants, who came out to the Royal Geographical Society in London, that "this is the time we need you to show your commitment to Jamaica".

investment opportunities

Officials said Jamaica's investment opportunities ranged from small-business niches, information and communication technology, agriculture and tourism to attractive offers from the Finance Ministry, such as the upcoming diaspora bond.

Pamella McLaren, head of Jamaica's Finance Ministry's Debt Management Unit, said she hoped the diaspora would see this as an excellent investment opportunity.

Officials also urged the diaspora to make Jamaica its destination of choice when travelling because every dollar spent there went to saving jobs in a country where the recession has led to declines in the bauxite, sugar and other industries. As many as 15,000 people have already lost their jobs, increasing unemployment by 12.7 per cent, they said.

"The impact of the global financial challenges is being felt in all quarters in Jamaica. It is estimated that the economy could contract by 0.5 per cent to 2 per cent or more, over the next year. But, the real extent of this contraction is anybody's guess," said Earl Jarrett, JNBS's general manager.

He spoke under the theme 'The Economic Imperatives for Jamaica 2009' after guest speaker Finance Minister Audley Shaw pulled out to travel back to Jamaica to deal with a personal emergency.

global cash crisis

Jarrett said the global cash crisis has led to Jamaican traders experiencing greater difficulty in getting trade financing for business and services, lower-than-expected prices for exports, a decrease in remittances and an increase in Jamaica's local and international debt, which now stands at J$1.2 trillion, officials said. Recent data also show that as much as J$159 billion out of Jamaica's Budget of J$555 billion will go to repay debt.

But Jarrett had comforting words, telling the audience in both Birmingham and London that Jamaicans are used to riding out the toughest of storms and, with the diaspora's help, are undaunted by the challenges ahead and are ready to embrace new opportunities.

At the packed forum at Birmingham's Council House, Jamaica's High Commissioner, Burchell Whiteman, also spoke of the strong bond people of Jamaican heritage continue to have for their homeland and how they want it to thrive.

Officials said the Government was already taking steps to ensure local people thrived in the face of the recession, including developing a pioneering youth enterprise programme to give business support to 60,000 graduates leaving school next month.