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...

The National Water Commission (NWC) is reminding landowners that, by law, water supply debts are tied to the land and remain due and payable to the NWC regardless of who may have used the water and caused the debt to be incurred. Corporate Public Relations Manager at the NWC, Charles Buchanan, told JIS News that the agency is about to...

For the 2016/17 fiscal year, the Micro Investment Development Agency (MIDA), through microfinance organisations (MFOs), disbursed a total of $143.58 million to finance 1,396 microenterprises. The figures have been included in the MIDA 2016/17 annual report, which was tabled in the House of Representatives recently. Through a revolving pool of resources generated primarily from the Government of Jamaica/Government of the...

The Consumer Affairs Commission (CAC) is encouraging the public to utilise the information in the commercial bank survey, which was published on Friday, December 8. The survey, which uncovered the rates and fees charged by the seven commercial banks operating in Jamaica as at August 2017, was done between July and September 2017. Jamaicans can access the information at the...

Country Manager for the Caribbean at the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), Therese Turner-Jones, says the region must take a more inclusive and environmentally sustainable approach to improve competitiveness in the tourism industry. Speaking with JIS News, she pointed out that the global environment is not what it was 10 years ago, because of climate change, and, as such, requires new...

Minister of Finance and the Public Service, Hon. Audley Shaw, says the Government is paving the way for the growth of the business process outsourcing (BPO) industry, which now employs over 26,000 Jamaicans. The Minister, who was speaking at the opening of the two-day Outsource to the Caribbean Conference on December 6 at the Iberostar Beach Hotel in Montego Bay,...

The First Supplementary Estimates for the 2017/18 financial year, which reflect an increase of $89.9 billion, was approved by the House of Representatives on Wednesday (December 6). Tabled in the House by Minister of Finance and the Public Service, Hon. Audley Shaw, on Tuesday (December 5), the Budget for this fiscal year was increased from $715.6 billion to $805.4 billion....