The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) is making more than US$50 million a year available for investment in a number of projects in Jamaica, through its investment arm, IDB Invest. IDB Invest General Manager, James P. Scriven, who made the disclosure on Friday (October 19), said that tourism, infrastructure, transportation, ports, roads, as well as the financial sector, are the areas...

The Government is increasing the number of young people to benefit under the Jamaica National Service Corps (JNSC) programme. Finance and the Public Service Minister, Dr. the Hon. Nigel Clarke, says that 1,500 more persons will be trained in three batches by October 2019. “We have 500 to come on October 28 and 1,500 to come over the next year,...

Economic Programme Oversight Committee (EPOC) Co-Chairman, Keith Duncan, said members are optimistic that the economic growth momentum will be sustained. Statistical Institute of Jamaica (STATIN) data indicate that the economy grew by 2.2 per cent during the April to June quarter. “As growth levels continue to rise quarter over quarter, we are hopeful that with an accommodative monetary policy enabling...

Economic Programme Oversight Committee (EPOC) Co-Chairman, Keith Duncan, says robust tax revenue growth over the last two years is creating the welcome fiscal space that allows for notable increases in Government capital expenditure and social spending. These increases, he said, are reflected in the first 2018/19 Supplementary Estimates, tabled in the House of Representatives on September 25 by Finance and...

Economic Programme Oversight Committee (EPOC) Co-Chairman, Keith Duncan, anticipates that the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) Executive Board will ratify Jamaica’s fourth review under the IMF’s Precautionary Standby Arrangement (PSBA), when its members meet for deliberations on November 5. Mr. Duncan said this optimism is based on the economic programme’s out-turns through to the end of June 2018, which saw the...

Minister of Industry, Commerce, Agriculture and Fisheries, Hon. Audley Shaw, is appealing for microfinance institutions to lower interest rates on loans for small business owners. “I encourage microlenders to ensure that your (loan) products are not exploitative with high interest rates that, instead of lifting our entrepreneurs, push them into a situation of unproductivity and perpetual borrowing,” he said. The...

Human resources shared services in the public sector is expected to be operational by the end of the current financial year. This was stated in a message from Minister without Portfolio in the Ministry of Finance and the Public Service, Hon. Fayval Williams, at a human resources transformation seminar held on October 10 at The Knutsford Court Hotel in New...