Minister of Finance and the Public Service, Dr. the Hon. Nigel Clarke, says 350,000 of the 390,000 applicants already confirmed for compassionate grants under the Government’s COVID Allocation of Resources for Employees (CARE) programme can expect to receive payments “over the coming days”. He said that since April 24, when the Government commenced the processing and verification of applications, notifications...

Minister of Finance and the Public Service, Dr. the Hon. Nigel Clarke, says the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has responded “favourably” to the Government’s request to access the institution’s Rapid Financing Instrument (RFI). This is part of the Administration’s measures to cushion Jamaica against the economic fallout being projected as a result of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. “I received a...

Prime Minister, the Most Hon. Andrew Holness, has announced the establishment of a Cabinet-approved multi-sectoral Task Force to oversee Jamaica’s economic recovery from the Coronavirus (COVID-19). Speaking at a digital media briefing at the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) on Monday (April 27), Mr. Holness said the COVID-19 Economic Recovery Task Force will be chaired by Minister of Finance...

Tax Administration Jamaica (TAJ) is appealing to taxpayers to, now more than ever, make use of its online portal at www.jamaicatax.gov.jm. This move comes as significant numbers continue to visit tax offices to access services, resulting in crowding at some locations. A recent review by the Authority of transactions for the month of April, shows that of the top ten...

Bank of Jamaica (BOJ) has been closely monitoring the current impact of the novel COVID-19 virus pandemic on the global and domestic financial system. Notwithstanding the current effects of the pandemic on normal business activities, BOJ would like to indicate that the fundamentals of the Jamaican financial system continue to be strong with licensee’s capital and liquidity exceeding current regulatory...

The Government has commenced verification activities to enable citizens who have applied for assistance under two components of the $10-billion COVID Allocation of Resources for Employees (CARE) Programme to start receiving grants by April 30. These are the Compassionate Grant and the Supporting Employees with Transfer of Cash (SET Cash) Grant, which together account for more than 90 per cent...

The Government notes the unprecedented collapse in world oil markets today (April 20) where prices collapsed more than 99% before going negative. Over the past few weeks, we have had a small team from the Ministry of Finance and the Public Service working with our bankers and multilateral partners on the possibility of hedging Jamaica’s future oil supplies. The team...