KINGSTON, Jamaica — Minister of Finance and Planning, Dr Peter Phillips, Tuesday admitted to experiencing a lack of interest from the Chinese in Jamaica government bonds on his trip to the Republic in December.

“Because there is insufficient knowledge of the Jamaican sovereign in Asia, participation in sovereign issues would be limited at this time,” he explained.

 However, Dr Phillips told members of the House of Representatives that the government was not unduly concerned about the situation right now, as it was not currently engaged in the bond market, and was only exploring the possibility of selling its sovereign bonds in China and other Asian countries when it returns to the market.

The minister said that if Jamaica is to attract the attention of Asian investors, it would be necessary to start making the necessary contacts now.

Phillips said his China trip exposed that there was need to generate “strong interest” in Jamaica’s sovereign bonds.

“In that regard efforts should be made to educate the Asian market on the nature of the Jamaican risk, and it was suggested that the Jamaican authorities would need to go on a ‘non-deal road show” to apprise the market of the sovereign risk profile,” he said.

Balford Henry