The Ministry of Finance and the Public Service is reporting improvements in Tax Administration Jamaica’s (TAJ) voluntary compliance matrix for the first quarter of the 2017/18 fiscal year, between April and June. According to the 2017/18 Fiscal Policy Paper Interim Report, upticks were recorded in taxpayer registration, on-time payment rates, and audits conducted. The document, which was tabled in the...

President and Chief Executive Officer of First Global Bank, Mariame McIntosh Robinson, is encouraging small business operators to take advantage of the positive signs in the economy to invest in the expansion of their operations. These indicators include a stable currency, low inflation, lower energy costs, strong net international reserves, heightened business and consumer confidence, and multilateral agency support, together...

Finance and the Public Service Minister, Hon. Audley Shaw, says a comprehensive public sector transformation plan is being finalised for tabling in the Houses of Parliament. He said the document, which is being prepared by the Public Sector Transformation Implementation Unit, will provide full details of the State entities to be divested, merged, subsumed into Central Government or closed.  Eighty-four...

General Manager of the Urban Development Corporation (UDC), Dr. Damian Graham, has reiterated the Government’s commitment to undertake the downtown Kingston Redevelopment Project. He highlights construction of new offices in downtown Kingston that will house the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade. “It is an 11-storey building worth almost $4 billion. The UDC was asked to step in with...

Trade unions representing public-sector workers have been urged to modify their wage claims, as nothing should be done to derail the economic programme that Jamaica is on. Making the call, Group Chief Executive Officer of Jamaica Money Market Brokers (JMMB), and Co-Chairman of the Economic Programme Oversight Committee (EPOC), Keith Duncan, said it is important that Jamaica achieve the target...

Finance and Public Service Minister, Hon. Audley Shaw, says a Working Group comprising members of the Government and unions representing civil servants is being established to facilitate further discussions on the pension reform programme. He made the announcement during Thursday’s (September 14) joint Government of Jamaica/International Monetary Fund (IMF) press conference for the second review under the Precautionary Stand By...

Minister of Finance and the Public Service, Hon. Audley Shaw, says Jamaican farmers now have the technology to produce quality crops that can supply both local and international markets. He made the remarks as he addressed executives from the World Bank, as well as farmers and other stakeholders at the Schwallenburgh Greenhouse Cluster and Water Harvesting Project in Rio Hoe,...