GEORGE TOWN, Cayman Islands, CMC – The Cayman Islands-based Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility Segregated Portfolio Company (CCRIF SPC) Thursday announced that it is making a second payment of US$21.1 million to Jamaica following the devastation caused by Hurricane Melissa last Tuesday.
The CCRIF SPC, the Caribbean and Central America parametric insurance facility and development insurer, said the funds had become available after Jamaica had triggered its excess rainfall parametric insurance policy.
On October 31, CCRIF SPC announced that Jamaica would receive a payout of US$70.8 million under the country’s tropical cyclone policy, bringing the total payouts to Jamaica from CCRIF to US$91.9 million due to the devastation caused by Hurricane Melissa.
The CCRIF SPC said earlier this week that it provided the Jamaican government with a portion of the tropical cyclone policy payout, estimated at US$8 million, to provide immediate liquidity.
It said the remaining US$62.8 million will be paid by November 13, in keeping with CCRIF SPC’s key value proposition of making payouts within 14 days of an event.
It said the excess rainfall policy payout will also be made within 14 days, following final model verification. Excess rainfall assessments typically take a few days longer than tropical cyclone evaluations due to the complexity of rainfall distribution and localized impacts.
CCRIF SPC’s chief executive officer, Isaac Anthony, is due to visit Jamaica to meet with senior officials to discuss how the company can provide further assistance for the country’s recovery efforts and how it can support the government in further enhancing its financial protection strategy.
It said the CCRIF SPC’s parametric insurance policies are a key component of Jamaica’s comprehensive disaster risk financing strategy and that payouts provide its members with immediate access to liquidity to support vulnerable populations, repair critical infrastructure, stabilise public services such as water, and reduce the country’s economic exposure, safeguarding debt and fiscal sustainability targets and overall development gains.
Jamaica currently has coverage for tropical cyclones, excess rainfall, and earthquakes.
Before the two payouts for Hurricane Melissa, Jamaica received three other payouts in previous years on its tropical cyclone and excess rainfall policies for Tropical Cyclones Beryl, Eta, and Zeta.
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