Jamiaca is to receive $640million from the IMF Monday

The Bruce Golding administration was expecting $640 million dollars to arrive in the Bank of Jamaica on Monday.

It is the first installment of the $1.27 billion loan agreement which was finanlised by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for Jamaica last Thursday.

Finance Minister Audley Shaw confirmed the money would arrive and told BBC Caribbean that under the deal Jamaica has to lower the high interest rates it pays on its debts, reform and better regulate the financial sector, and rein in spending.

Another key demand of the loan is getting rid of loss making national entities such as Air Jamaica.

Belize government review

Exactly two years since Dean Barrow was sworn in as Prime Minister of Belize there have been mixed reviews about just how well his administration has been performing.

The United Democratic Party came into office on February 7 2008, on a manifesto which promised to create more jobs, cut violent crime and improve the health care system for all Belizeans.

But it has had to deal with the global financial downturn and a $2billion dollar debt which it inherited from the previous administration.

But despite the circumstances, independent Senator Godwin Hulse said the people feel the government could have taken steps to alleviate the debt problem which would have enabled the Barrow administration to spend more on social programmes.

Senator Hulse told BBC Caribbean: "There are lots of things the government cannot do for example it can't afford essential hospital equipment. We are talking very small money compared to what we have to be paying in debt services and that is the problem."

Caribbean drought

The Caribbean Institute for Meteorology and Hydrology says Caribbean countries which have been in the grips of drought-like conditions won't see any respite anytime soon.

People in countries such as Trinidad , Barbados and Jamaica have been facing daily water restrictions. Schools, hospitals and farms have also been severely affected by the dry spell.

But the Caribbean Institute for Meteorology and Hydrology says the problem need not have been that bad.

Its acting chief of applied meteorology, Adrian Trottman says people could have saved more water during the rainy season.

"Water harvesting is something that we should get into more.

In Barbados it is part of law that if you have a property of a certain size then you're supposed to have storage water from the rainfall and that can be more widespread and this can be used not for domestic uses but for irrigation and washing cars," he said.

Caricom pushes health agenda

Caricom wants the United Nations to organise a global summit on the worldwide "epidemic" of lifestyle diseases.

Caricom and the World Health Organisation (WHO) organised a briefing at UN headquarters on the impact of the so-called non-communicable diseases, such as diabetes, strokes, heart diseases and cancer.

"Non-communicable diseases are a development issue as much as a health issue," said Donatus St. Aimee, St Lucia's UN ambassador.

Ala Alwan, an Assistant Director-General of WHO, said non-communicable diseases were responsible for 60 per cent of global deaths.