More small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) will benefit from assistance this year to boost their export potential under the Caribbean Export Development Agency’s (CEDA’s) Direct Assistance Grant Scheme (DAGS). Proposals are now being accepted for the scheme, which is funded by the European Union (EU) and is specifically designed to provide financial support to established SMEs that are exporting or...

Prime Minister, the Most Hon. Andrew Holness, is confident that Jamaica can attain full employment based on the growth in job-creating projects, which has boosted employment, leading to record declines in the unemployment rate. Unemployment has been trading downwards, reaching a low of 9.6 per cent as at January 2018, and there have been significant investment and development interests, particularly...

Prime Minister, the Most Hon. Andrew Holness, says Jamaica’s unemployment rate has declined to a record low 9.6 per cent as at the end of January 2018, down from the 10.4 per cent out-turn for the October to December 2017 quarter. The figure is an improvement on the 9.8 per cent recorded in the October to December 2007 quarter. The...

Leader of Government Business in the House of Representatives, Hon. Karl Samuda, today (May 1), apologised for the manner in which the affairs of the Lower House were conducted on April 24. Addressing the House, the Minister said the sitting was conducted in a manner that was “most unsatisfactory and unbecoming” of the rich tradition of the institution. “To the...

Development Bank of Jamaica (DBJ) Managing Director, Milverton Reynolds, says he expects support from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) for its Innovation Grant from New Ideas to Entrepreneurship (IGNITE) programme. The second phase of the programme was launched at the Spanish Court Hotel, in New Kingston, on Friday (April 27). “I am pleased to announce...

Prime Minister, the Most Hon. Andrew Holness, has lauded the Development Bank of Jamaica (DBJ) for its ongoing commitment to facilitating economic growth and job creation through programmes, such as the Innovation Grant from New Ideas to Entrepreneurship (IGNITE) initiative. The DBJ, through IGNITE, enables Jamaican entrepreneurs, particularly micro, small and medium-size enterprises (MSMEs), with innovative business ideas to access...

Economic Growth Council (EGC) Chairman, Michael Lee-Chin, says 66 of the 111 growth initiatives contained in that body’s Call to Action mandate have been achieved since its establishment in April 2016. This, Mr. Lee-Chin, points out, equates to a completion rate of 59 per cent of the Council’s targets focused on repositioning Jamaica to achieve five per cent economic growth...