The Government now has the authority to spend funds allotted in the 2015/16 Estimates of Expenditure, following the passage of the Appropriation Act 2015 in the Senate on Friday, March 27. This annual Bill provides authority for expenditure (other than statutory expenditure) for the financial year 2015/16 and specifies the manner in which the money is to be allocated to...

The Urban Development Corporation (UDC) is positioned to spend $2.2 billion on capital development and investment projects in the 2015/16 financial year. “These projects will create real economic activity and contribute to growth,” Prime Minister, the Most Hon. Portia Simpson Miller said, while making her contribution to the 2015/16 Budget Debate in the House of Representatives on March 24. Some...

Planned investments of some $1 billion will be undertaken at the Oceana Hotel in Downtown Kingston over the next 12 to 18 months. This was disclosed by Prime Minister, the Most Hon. Portia Simpson Miller, during her presentation in the 2015/16 Budget Debate in the House of Representatives on Tuesday, March 24. In 2014, a Jamaican/Canadian consortium purchased the Oceana...

Opposition Spokesperson on Finance, Audley Shaw, has recommended that the Government develop an overseas work programme to provide more employment opportunities for Jamaicans outside of the traditional areas of farming and hospitality. He noted that the programme, which would be similar in structure to the farm and hotel work programmes, would reach a wider range of skilled Jamaicans, who are...

The Jamaica Information Service (JIS) is to receive an increased budgetary allocation of $170.6 million for capital expenditure in the 2015/2016 Budget to relocate the Television Department to premises at 5-9 South Odeon Avenue in Kingston. “The Television Department can no longer be accommodated at the premises at Caenwood Centre, Arnold Road, which is owned by the Ministry of Education,”...

Jamaica is currently ranked 64 out of 146 nations in the 2014 Forbes Best Countries for Business Report. Making the disclosure, Minister of Finance and Planning, Dr. the Hon. Peter Phillips, said this makes the country the best in the Caribbean region to do business and third in Latin America and the Caribbean. He was opening the 2015/16 Budget Debate...

Finance and Planning Minister, Dr. the Hon. Peter Phillips, says the country passing all the required International Monetary Fund (IMF) quarterly tests, has helped to boost business confidence, which is currently at one of its highest levels. “It is the passing of these IMF tests why consumer confidence is growing in Jamaica,” the Minister said, while opening the 2015/16 Budget...