The Students’ Loan Bureau (SLB) plans to employ several initiatives to strengthen its customer engagement strategies for fiscal year 2024/25. These, the entity notes, include implementation of its loan management system by the first quarter of 2024/25, restructuring loans to facilitate lower monthly payments, and an expansion of product offerings to include certification and professional online programmes. This, according to...

The National Insurance Fund (NIF) plans to increase its net assets through the prudent management of the investment portfolio mix. As stated by the Ministry of Finance and the Public Service (MFPS) in the 2024/25 Jamaica Public Bodies’ Estimates of Revenue and Expenditure, the increase will be achieved through participation in opportunities that allow for the maximum growth potential and...

Tax Administration Jamaica (TAJ) has developed a technical advisory as part of the process of implementing the increased income tax threshold and pension and age exemptions announced by the Minister of Finance and the Public Service, Dr. the Hon. Nigel Clarke, during his 2024/25 Budget Debate presentation in March. The first in a series of sensitisation sessions to discuss the...

The Government of Jamaica (GOJ), the Development Bank of Jamaica, the Green Climate Fund (GCF), Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the World Bank Group, European Investment Bank as part of Team Europe, USAID, and the United Kingdom, are discussing a framework to establish a ‘Blue Green Facility’ –a blended financing structure–of up to USD 500 million over five years, which would...

Bank of Jamaica has taken note of the inflation outturn at March 2024 as released by the Statistical Institute of Jamaica (STATIN) on April 15, 2024. The 12-month point-to-point inflation (March 2023 to March 2024) was 5.6 per cent, which is within the Bank’s target range. The Bank welcomes the reduction in headline inflation, which was 0.6 percentage points lower...

The Ministry of Finance and the Public Service (MOFPS) will be kicking off its 2024 National Budget Secondary School Tour on April 9 at St. Catherine High School. Education and Youth Minister, Hon. Fayval Williams, and State Minister in the MOFPS, Hon. Zavia Mayne, are scheduled to attend the launch, which will begin at 8:30 a.m. Presentations will be made...

Persons seeking to provide services to the Government are being reminded that the public procurement process is guided by four basic principles. Chief Public Procurement Policy Officer at the Ministry of Finance and the Public Service, Andrei Bennett, explained to JIS News that the principles exist to provide a level playing field for all bidders on government contracts. “The principle...

Tax Administration Jamaica (TAJ) is advising property owners that its system is now updated to reflect Property Tax liabilities for the 2024/25 period, which became due on April 1, 2024. This means that property owners have until April 30, 2024 to pay the unchanged tax amounts online and/or in line without the possibility of any penalty being applied, using a...

Bank of Jamaica (BOJ) has issued new service-level standards as guidelines for the operation of Automated Banking Machines (ABMs) by deposit-taking institutions (DTIs) which are regulated by BOJ. The new standards were issued on April 2 and DTIs have a nine-month transition period to bring themselves into conformity with the guidelines, given the far-reaching nature of the service-level standards. Compliance...