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The Jamaican government has described as “hasty and unwarranted” a downgrade by New York-based rating agency Standard and Poors, which cited the resignation of Jamaican central bank Governor Derrick Latibeaudiere as one of the main reasons for its action.

On November 2, 2009, S&P  downgraded Jamaica’s long-term credit rating from ‘Triple C-Plus’ to ‘Triple C’ essentially paling the island’s debt at well below investment grade.

S&P noted the island’s delicate negotiations with the IMF and cited the fact that Derick Latibeaudiere, who was lead negotiator in those talks, resigned for unexplained reasons.

The rating agency also emphasized that its negative outlook on Jamaica signalled what it described as “the growing risk of a debt exchange operation that would indicate selective debt default.”

However, Jamaica’s Finance Minister Audley Shaw noted that the island had moved quickly to replace Latibeaudiere as lead IMF negotiator. His replacement is Dr. Wesley Hughes the Financial Secretary and who was a former Deputy Governor of the Bank of Jamaica.

The government’s information Minister Daryl Vaz also moved swiftly November 2 to tell TVJ - the island’s leading television station, that Latibeaudiere’s resignation was over an unspecified contractual issue and had nothing to do with the IMF negotiations.

S&P’s downgrade of Jamaica’s credit-worthiness is the second in less than three months as on August 5, 2009, the rating agency had downgraded Jamaica from ‘B-minus’ to ‘Triple C Plus’.

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