State Minister in the Ministry of Finance, Zhivargo Laing, and Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) representative Astrid Wynter have signed a $612,000 technical co-operation grant to help strengthen The Bahamas’ fiscal policy.

The resources were provided by the Japan Special Fund to the IDB. Japanese Ambassador to The Bahamas, Jamaica and Belize, Hiroshi Yamaguchi, also signed the documents. The government’s contribution to the project is $153,000.

At the signing Minister Laing said: “The focus of this technical co-operation aims to support our charge towards fiscal rebalancing though improving our current system of revenue collection with particular emphasis on tax administration and also by strengthening our debt management systems.”

Recently a debt management committee comprising the Central Bank of The Bahamas, the Treasury Department, and the Ministry of Finance was established expressly to look at debt management on a sustainable basis.

The Japan Special Fund was established in 1988 by the government of Japan to promote social and economic growth by borrowing member countries of the IDB.