Minister of Finance and the Public Service, Dr. the Hon. Nigel Clarke, tabled the Second Supplementary Estimates of Expenditure for 2020/2021 in the House of Representatives on October 6. It proposes overall additional expenditure of $15.7 billion to generate a total expenditure budget of $853.7 billion. Minister Clarke said that the Second Supplementary Estimates reflects increased spending to meet coronavirus...

President of the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB), Dr. William Warren Smith, says the institution has been instrumental in the transformation of the region, with US$2.5 billion disbursed between 2011 and 2019 for various developmental projects. He said that US$1.8 billion of the approved funds went towards financing undertakings in transportation, social infrastructure, environment, sea defences, disaster management, reconstruction, and energy....

Bank of Jamaica announces its decision to hold the policy interest rate (the rate offered to deposit-taking institutions on overnight placements with Bank of Jamaica) unchanged at 0.50 per cent per annum. Jamaica continues to grapple with the challenge of the COVID-19 pandemic and the adverse impact on economic activity. Bank of Jamaica has therefore kept the policy rate at...

Effective October 1, 2020, all taxpayers submitting Returns for Guest Accommodation Room Tax (GART) using the RT01 Form will be mandated to file online, via the Tax Administration Jamaica (TAJ) online portal at www.jamaicatax.gov.jm. This marks the latest step in the phased introduction of mandatory eFiling by TAJ, which began in 2014. Currently, about 72% of GART Returns are filed...

The Jamaica Deposit Insurance Corporation (JDIC) has embarked on a media campaign to heighten public awareness about the increased coverage limit for accounts held at deposit-taking institutions (DTIs). Effective August 31, 2020, the coverage limit has been adjusted from $600,000 to $1.2 million for holders of individual, joint, business, and trust accounts at commercial and merchant banks and building societies....

Jamaica received official development assistance (ODA) funding worth US$140.9 million during 2019 from international development partners (IDPs). This was 36.2 per cent lower than the sum received the previous year, according to the Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ) 2019 Economic and Social Survey. The document indicates that the 2019 provision comprised loans amounting to US$65 million, and grants totalling US$75.9...

Chairperson of the Jamaica Deposit Insurance Corporation (JDIC), Myrtle Halsall, says that all JDIC-insured financial institutions remain solvent and adequately capitalised, despite the economic impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. “The JDIC continues its collaboration with the regulatory authorities to proactively monitor the system and work purposefully to ensure that it stands ready to respond to any impact on member...