Minister of Finance and the Public Service, Dr. the Hon. Nigel Clarke, says establishment of the Fiscal Council will seek to further institutionalise economic independence by strengthening Jamaica’s Fiscal Responsibility Framework. He points out that the Fiscal Council will be the guardian and interpreter of those fiscal rules which already exist and will help to maintain a path of fiscal...

The 2019/20 capital expenditure budget for the 56 Self-Financing Public Bodies (SFPB) is projected at $71.9 billion. The sum is $13.5 billion more than the figure for 2018/19, which totalled approximately $58.4 billion, and is expected to result in the entities attaining an overall balance deficit of $3.2 billion over the period. This is according to the Government’s 2019/20 Fiscal...

On Friday 1 March 2019, Prime Minister Andrew Holness chaired the monthly sitting of the National Security Council (NSC). The Prime Minister, while noting that the overall crime rate is comparatively lower than the same period in 2018, expressed his concerns regarding the unacceptable levels of murders and shootings across the country. Arising out of the context of the discontinuation...

The Government will be spending another $593.5 million in the upcoming fiscal year to complete two sanitation projects being undertaken by the Jamaica Social Investment Fund (JSIF). The money has been allocated in the 2019/20 Estimates of Expenditure, now before the House of Representatives. Of the sum, $573.5 million will go towards the Basic Needs Trust Fund project; and $20...

The Government is to spend $750 million as part of the overall plan to develop a national emergency communication system, to coordinate incident response among various critical agencies of government and volunteers. The money has been set aside in the 2019/20 Estimates of Expenditure, now before the House of Representatives. Funded by the Government, the ‘Improvement of Emergency Communication System...

Cabinet has given approval for increases to be granted to government pensioners. Minister of Education, Youth and Information, Senator the Hon. Ruel Reid, said details will be provided in the 2019/20 Budget Debate by Finance and the Public Service Minister, Dr. the Hon. Nigel Clarke. Senator Reid was speaking at a post-Cabinet press briefing, held at the Office of the...

Vice Principal for Academic Affairs at the Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts (EMCVPA), Dr. Trudy Ann Barrett, has highlighted the need for greater research on and documentation of the Jamaican arts. “There is a paucity of research. There is not enough data, which we can readily access,” she said. Dr. Barrett, who was addressing a JIS...