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KINGSTON — The Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries is putting resources and infrastructure in place for the production of rice and pepper mash, as it looks to promote the consumption of local foods and further reduce the country’s import bill. Speaking at a JIS Think Tank held on April 12 at the agency’s Half-Way-Tree Road offices, Permanent Secretary in the...

KINGSTON — Accounts lecturer, Anthony Hutchinson, told the FINSAC Enquiry Wednesday April 13 that although he never challenged the right of the Jamaican Redevelopment Foundation (JRF) Inc. to charge interest on his bad debt, he was not sure that it was entitled to do so. “My first issue was to pay off the debt. That interest rate, as unreasonable as...

KINGSTON — Up to 4,000 more Jamaican families will each year have the opportunity to own their dream home, with the assistance of the Jamaica Mortgage Bank (JMB), through its Secondary Mortgage Market (SMM) facility, which was launched Wednesday April 13 at the Terra Nova Hotel, Kingston. The SMM is a mechanism that provides liquidity to mortgage originators by allowing...

$1.15 Billion of $1.84 Billion for GoJ Institutions & Contracts    The Minister of Finance and The Public Service (MOFPS) has issued summary data for waivers approved for the month of February, as set out in the table below. A total of $1,841,789,198.88 waivers was issued, with the bulk ($1,151,291,466.46) going to GoJ-related transactions. Government contracts accounted for $643,054,642.37 of...

KINGSTON — The Jamaica Information Service (JIS) website is the most popular Government website, with page views amounting to more than 550,000 per month. According to internal analytics tool, Google Analytics, the achievement of 550,000 views represents a major increase over the last few months. With the increased views, the newly revamped JIS website is now the 17th most visited...

KINGSTON — Former Chairman of the Eagle Group of Companies, Dr. Paul Chen-Young, is scheduled to testify before the FINSAC Commission of Enquiry via videolink from abroad, on Thursday (April 14). Dr. Chen-Young, whose Eagle Group was a victim of the 1990s financial meltdown and was taken over the Government-owned Financial Sector Adjustment Company (FINSAC), emigrated to the United States...

KINGSTON — Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries, Hon Dr. Christopher Tufton, says the Government will gradually dismantle commodity boards, and replace them with a structure with minimal state involvement, maximum private sector entrepreneurship and Jamaican brand protection. "Our position is that commodity boards today, whether it is the banana board, the coffee board, the cocoa board or the spices board,...

MONTEGO BAY — A US$1.2 million (approximately $102 million) e-procurement technical agreement was signed between the Government of Jamaica (GOJ) and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) on Tuesday April 12. Minister of State in the Ministry of Finance and the Public Service, Senator the Hon Arthur Williams, signed on behalf of the government, while IDB representative in Jamaica, Ancile Brewster,...

KINGSTON — The State Opening of Parliament will take place on April 14, beginning at 11:00 a.m. Governor-General, His Excellency the Most Hon. Sir Patrick Allen will deliver the Throne Speech, in which he will outline the government’s programmes and policies for the 2011/12 Fiscal Year, which began on April 1. Later in the afternoon, Minister of Finance and the...

OCHO RIOS — Corinaldi Avenue Primary School student, Kaela Smith, has won the junior category of the Florida Caribbean Cruise Association (FCCA) Foundation’s Children’s Environmental Poster competition. The twelve-year-old Montego Bay resident was presented with a plaque and a cash prize of US$3,000 awarded on Tuesday April 12 at a ceremony on board the vessel, “Coral Princess”, which was docked...

PORT ANTONIO — Members of 4-H clubs in St. Mary displayed their many talents at the annual St. Mary 4-H Achievement Day, held at the Llanrunmey Estate near Port Maria, on April 7, under the theme: ‘Value added agriculture for youth transformation’. The event featured various projects prepared by the various clubs, the staging of competitive events among the clubs,...

KINGSTON — The 70,000-strong Jamaica 4-H Movement is looking to increase its membership by 10,000 over the next three years as it seeks to reach more of the country’s young people. “We have empowered 70,000 clubbites island wide over the last 70 years, and we are aiming at 100,000 clubbites within the next three years,” said 4-H Public Relations and...