Deputy Secretary with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Calvin McDonald has been appointed as chief fiscal advisor to Jamaica’s Finance Minister Dr. Nigel Clarke.
In a statement on Wednesday, the Finance Ministry said that McDonald, a Jamaican, is on leave from the IMF and will be primarily responsible for advising on improving the ministry’s macro-fiscal capacity especially in light of Jamaica’s expected graduation from a program relationship with the IMF.
“Jamaica has benefited from, and continues to benefit from the fund’s technical and analytical capacity in the context of a borrowing, program relationship. When we eventually graduate to a non-borrowing relationship with the IMF we will still have access to technical assistance as needed. It is crucial that we strengthen our indigenous macro-fiscal capacity and technical expertise and there is no better person to help us in this regard than Calvin McDonald,” the statement continued.
In 2012, McDonald was appointed deputy secretary of the IMF where he helps to shape the work programme of the institution and supports the Managing Director and her deputies in chairing IMF Executive Board meetings.
The ministry said McDonald is an experienced economist with a strong background in academia, economic analysis, and macroeconomic policy advice.
He became the first and only Jamaican to have joined the IMF through its Economist Programme for economists under the age of 32 and over his 26-year career as a staff economist at the IMF, he has distinguished himself through his accomplishments, and held several senior positions.
McDonald worked as desk economist for Uganda when that country became the first to receive multilateral debt relief under the Heavily Indebted Poor Country Initiative.
He also served as fiscal economist on the Russia team during the currency crisis and unilateral debt default, and helped design the IMF’s last financial support program for that country and was deputy mission chief for Nigeria.
In addition, he worked as deputy division chief in the Fiscal Affairs Department of the IMF, where he led technical assistance missions on public expenditure policy and pension reforms; mission chief for South Africa and division chief in the African Department, and assistant director to two deputy managing directors in the Office of the Managing Director of the IMF.
