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BOJ Governor Richard Byles
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The Bank of Jamaica (BOJ) says it is keeping a keen eye on the discussions taking place about the need to increase the US debt ceiling.
BOJ Governor Richard Byles says if a decision is not reached soon, the world could face even tighter economic conditions.
"We certainly hope it comes to our soft landing during the course of this week because it is not good for anyone throughout the world to have the US be in a situation where they may default on payments or be unable to make payments," he said.
He noted that most of Jamaica's reserves are held in US dollars, as is the case for most countries in the world, "so we all have that vested interest to see that or to hope that that gets resolved very quickly".
If this is not done, he said, it would be the first time in US history that they have defaulted.
The US government has been trying to reach a decision to lift the self imposed US$31.4 trillion debt ceiling.
If the US Congress and the White House fail to do so, the Treasury Department says it could start missing payments on its obligations as soon as June 1.
At that point, Washington would be under severe pressure to keep making payments on US bonds, which underpin the global financial system.
Missing a payment would trigger a Wall Street meltdown of historic proportions.
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