The Jamaica Customs Agency (JCA) plans to further deepen its engagements with clients and stakeholders through a special traders forum that will be held annually, beginning in the 2018/19 fiscal year. It will bring together interests involved in the wide spectrum of trade, inclusive of export, import, logistics, warehousing and haulage to educate, sensitize and heighten their awareness of the...

State Minister in the Ministry of Finance and the Public Service, Hon. Rudyard Spencer, has proposed that public-sector workers change their traditional approach to collective bargaining and select one group annually for negotiations. Speaking at a forum on public-sector wage negotiations, hosted by the Hugh Lawson Shearer Trade Union Education Institute at the University of the West Indies (UWI), Mona,...

Finance and Public Service Minister, Hon. Audley Shaw, says the Government is targeting the creation 50,000 Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) jobs in a “pretty short time.” Speaking at Mayberry Investments Limited’s monthly investor forum at the Knutsford Court Hotel in New Kingston on January 17, the Minister  noted that the BPO sector has been growing “very aggressively” and has generated...

The Government of Jamaica has signed an agreement with the Republic of Italy for the elimination of double taxation with respect to taxes on income and for the prevention of tax evasion and avoidance. The signing took place at the Ministry of Finance and Public Service’s Heroes Circle offices in Kingston on Friday, January 19. Portfolio Minister, Hon. Audley Shaw,...

Finance and the Public Service Minister, Hon. Audley Shaw, says no new taxes will be included in the 2018/19 Estimates of Expenditure He says revenue inflows have been doing “fairly well” this year, noting that the out-turn at the end of December 2017 was $13 billion ahead of projections. “Happily, with this trajectory, it is not the Government’s plan to...

A Special Early Retirement Programme (SERP) is being offered by the Government of Jamaica to eligible public sector workers.  Eligible public sector workers are permanent employees of the Government of Jamaica between the ages of 50 and 59 years except health professionals, security forces, correctional officers and teachers. The SERP operates under specified terms, including: It is the employee’s choice...

Finance and the Public Service Minister, Hon. Audley Shaw, says he is confident that the 2017/19 public-sector salary negotiations will conclude soon. Noting the Administration’s desire to complete the discussions “over the next few weeks”, he said the Government is prepared to be flexible “as far as is possible” in accommodating concerns raised by unions representing civil servants, regarding the...

Finance and the Public Service Minister, Hon. Audley Shaw, says the Jamaica Stock Exchange (JSE) performed strongly in 2017, ranking among the top-10 capital market indices globally. He was speaking at Mayberry Investments Limited’s monthly Investors’ Forum at The Knutsford Court Hotel in New Kingston on Wednesday (January 17). Minister Shaw informed that between April and December, the JSE’s main...

Minister of Finance and the Public Service, Hon. Audley Shaw, is appealing to beverage manufacturers to lower the sugar content in their products or force the Government to take action. He said they can either respond voluntarily “or we as a Government can respond to the needs of the country through appropriate policy prescriptions.” “There has to be a willingness...