KINGSTON, Jamaica — International Monetary Fund (IMF) Resident Representative, Dr Lonkeng Ngouana says Jamaica should be reaping more economic benefits from the strength of the country’s brand, which he has described as being “under leveraged”.“The strength of the Jamaican brand around the world should be generating even more visitors, although (the number) is already high,” said Dr Longkeng Ngouana.

He was delivering the distinguished lecture hosted recently by the University of the Commonwealth Caribbean (UCC) in Kingston.

Pointing to the outstanding performances by Jamaican athletes at the 2016 Rio Olympics, which was seen globally by millions of television viewers, the IMF official argued that the country had a great opportunity to market its products to other countries.

“To leverage that brand your goods have to be found in shops (in countries where people easily recognise) the Jamaican flag,” Dr Longkeng Ngouana told the gathering of UCC students, staff and guests. The IMF representative suggested that security concerns were among the factors hindering the greater leveraging of Jamaica’s brand and which partially caused many tourists not to venture beyond all-inclusive resorts to sample the country’s cultural offerings.

However, he noted that Government was address this problem by a renewed focus on citizen security – one of four pillars to achieve economic growth and jobs. The other pillars are public sector transformation, social inclusion and modernisation of the central bank to better manage inflation.

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/latestnews/Jamaica_can_earn_more_from_brand,_says_IMF_official