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...

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...

The Government is expected to make the first major repayment of $62 billion on maturing bonds issued under the National Debt Exchange (NDX), in the first quarter of the next calendar year. Making the announcement, Minister of Finance and Planning, Dr. the Hon. Peter Phillips, said the administration’s ability to make the payment next February, as scheduled, is due to...

The Development Bank of Jamaica (DBJ) approved a total of 8,844 loans valued at $3.3 billion to Micro, Small and Medium-size Enterprises (MSMEs), during the first 11 months of the 2014/15 fiscal year. Minister of Finance and Planning, Dr. the Hon. Peter Phillips, who made the announcement while opening the 2015/16 Budget Debate in the House on March 12, said this...

The Government has established a new Labour Market Reform Commission to undertake work which will ensure that industrial relations practices facilitate higher levels of productivity, and are compatible with modern labour market engagements. This was disclosed by Finance and Planning  Minister, Dr. the Hon. Peter Phillips, as he opened the 2015/16 Budget Debate in the House of Representatives, on March...

Finance and Planning, Dr. the Hon. Peter Phillips, says the process of public sector transformation and modernisation, being undertaken by the administration, aims to restructure state institutions’ operations and establish systems designed to enhance and make them function more efficiently, flexibly, responsively, and accountably. “Let me be clear, we do not share the view of those in the society who...