The Jamaica Customs Agency (JCA) stands firmly on its motto: “Country Above Self” and its core values of Customer-centricity, Accountability, Professionalism, Integrity and Transparency (CAPIT), and remains committed to its mandates of facilitating trade, protecting Jamaica’s borders and collecting revenue on behalf of the Government of Jamaica. The JCA has sought ways to improve its overall efficiency as a public...

Finance and the Public Service Minister, Dr. the Hon. Nigel Clarke, says 90 per cent of outstanding debt to the Export-Import (EXIM) Bank of China will be repaid in 10 years. Dr. Clarke informed that 99 per cent of the loans secured from China on behalf of Jamaica are at fixed interest rates of two and three per cent, which...

The country’s unemployment rate has fallen to a new record low of 8.4 per cent, according to the Statistical Institute of Jamaica (STATIN) Labour Force Survey for July 2018. This out-turn is 1.3 per cent lower than the 9.7 per cent recorded for the April 2018 Survey. It is also 2.9 percentage points lower than the rate of 11.3 per...

The Statistical Institute of Jamaica (STATIN) is urging businesses to cooperate with field officers conducting the Jamaica Survey of Establishments (JSE). Since July, STATIN field officers have been visiting businesses across the island to collect basic information on the number and types of entities in operation. The data-collection phase of the survey will be completed at the end of November....

Ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) of Government involved in the production and dissemination of statistics will participate in a workshop from October 30 to November 1 at The Jamaica Pegasus hotel in New Kingston. Spearheaded by the Statistical Institute of Jamaica (STATIN), the three-day event will also include persons from academia, the private sector and other major users of statistics....

Minister without Portfolio in the Finance and the Public Service Ministry, Hon. Fayval Williams, is emphasising the importance of increased productivity in staving off potential inflationary pressures. She said that low productivity results in “cost increases that flow through to product prices and thereby raised inflation”. “For a country, productivity growth is important because being able to provide more goods...

A Joint Select Committee of Parliament has been established to consider and report on the Bank of Jamaica (Amendment) Act 2018. The Committee will be chaired by Minister of Finance and the Public Service, Dr. the Hon. Nigel Clarke. Other members include Minister of Justice, Hon. Delroy Chuck; Minister without Portfolio in the Ministry of Finance and the Public Service,...

The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) is making more than US$50 million a year available for investment in a number of projects in Jamaica, through its investment arm, IDB Invest. IDB Invest General Manager, James P. Scriven, who made the disclosure on Friday (October 19), said that tourism, infrastructure, transportation, ports, roads, as well as the financial sector, are the areas...

The Government is increasing the number of young people to benefit under the Jamaica National Service Corps (JNSC) programme. Finance and the Public Service Minister, Dr. the Hon. Nigel Clarke, says that 1,500 more persons will be trained in three batches by October 2019. “We have 500 to come on October 28 and 1,500 to come over the next year,...