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Concerns of the youth dominated the Chamber of the Kingston and St. Andrew Corporation (KSAC), on November 22, as 43 students from various high schools in the Municipality participated in the 2012 Junior Council Forum. The students debated seven Resolutions that were brought before the mock Junior Council, chaired by newly robed Junior Mayor, Russell Barrett, of Calabar High School,...

Jamaica’s Growth Inducement Strategy (GIS), developed by the Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ), is now available on the agency’s website for public viewing. Speaking at the PIOJ's quarterly media briefing at the Institute’s New Kingston offices on Tuesday (November 20), Director General, Dr. Gladstone Hutchinson, advised that “significant work has been made in all of the critical areas” related to...

Twenty-nine residents of the Tawes Meadows community in St. Catherine have been equipped with the requisite skills to become self-reliant in agricultural production. They were trained by the Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA) in chicken rearing, animal husbandry, bee keeping and cash crop farming over a four-week period as part of the agricultural sub-component of the Jamaica Social Investment Fund’s...

Member of Parliament for North West Manchester, Mikael Phillips, is suggesting that the Government utilise more than one pension fund manager to administer public sector pensions when the new pension scheme is implemented. In making his contribution to the debate on the report of the Joint Select Committee on Pension Reform in the House of Representatives on November 20, Mr....

Minister of Finance and Planning, Dr. the Hon. Peter Phillips, on November 20 tabled the White Paper on Tax Reform in the House of Representatives, which outlines the main tax-related initiatives to be undertaken over the medium to long-term. He said the document, which has had the benefit of a thorough consultative process, seeks to facilitate economic growth and development....

The Jamaica Information Service (JIS) is the recipient of the Positive Images in the Media Award, presented by the Jamaica Council for Persons with Disabilities (JCPD), for the agency’s positive representation of disabled persons. The award was presented at the Inaugural Disability Friendly Awards Gala and Dinner held on Monday (November 19) at the Wyndham Kingston Hotel.  The agency was...

The Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ) is reporting that the country earned some US$1.33 billion in foreign exchange from expenditure by visitors to Jamaica, between January and July this year. According to PIOJ Director General, Dr. Gladstone Hutchinson, this represents a 3.6 per cent increase over the corresponding period last year. Speaking at the PIOJ's quarterly media briefing (July to...

Rehabilitation works have been completed at the Gregory Park Primary School in Portmore, St. Catherine,  by the Jamaica Social Investment Fund (JSIF), at a cost of just under $40 million. This was done under  Phase Two of the European Union (EU)-funded Poverty Reduction Programme (PRP II). Works undertaken included the construction of a 100-metre block wall, and drainage system; replacement...

Minister of State for Local Government and Community Development, Hon. Colin Fagan, says a sustained public education programme, targeted particularly at the youth, is critical in raising awareness of the adverse effects of smoking. “Statistics provided to me indicate a worrying trend that has shown that Jamaica is now having children as young as 10 years old addicted to smoking;...

Finance and Planning Minister, Dr. the Hon. Peter Phillips, says the Government’s economic reform and transformation programme is proceeding “at an appropriate speed." He said that the programme, aimed at “restarting the engines of progress,” addresses a number of critical areas including debt management, containing wage-related expenditures, and growth promotion. The Minister was speaking at Mayberry Investments Limited’s monthly investor...

State Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries, Hon. Ian Hayles, is appealing to the banking sector to offer more low interest loans to farmers as a means of boosting agricultural productivity. “At the end of every financial year, the banks will tell you that ‘we made $10 billion in profit, we made $12 billion in profit’. I am appealing to the...

A total of 235 public servants were honoured for their longstanding contribution to the development of the country at the annual Jamaica Civil Service Long Service Awards ceremony held on Wednesday (November 21) at King’s House Governor-General, His Excellency the Most Hon. Sir Patrick Allen; Prime Minister, the Most Hon. Portia Simpson Miller, and Minister with responsibility for Public Service,...