Minister of Finance and the Public Service, Hon. Fayval Williams, on Tuesday (December 2), tabled the Third Supplementary Estimates for fiscal year 2025/26 in the House of Representatives. The revised Estimates of Expenditure shows the budgetary allocation moving from $1,270,538,106 to $1,376,876,935, representing an increase of approximately $106 million. In her remarks, Mrs. Williams noted that in addition to the...

Jamaica is set to benefit from a comprehensive package of up to US$6.7 billion over three years, designed to strengthen recovery and reconstruction efforts in the aftermath of Hurricane Melissa. The funds will be facilitated through CAF – Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean, the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB), the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) Group, the International Monetary...

Jamaica is set to receive an additional US$4 million from the United Nations (UN) Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) to accelerate life-saving humanitarian activities in parishes hardest hit by Hurricane Melissa. The funding will be implemented through five UN-affiliated agencies – the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO), the...

The Government has allocated $10 million to each constituency to facilitate the clean-up of debris left in the wake of Hurricane Melissa. Prime Minister, Dr. the Most Hon. Andrew Holness, made the announcement during a statement to the House of Representatives on Tuesday (November 25). He also informed the House that $150,000 will be allocated to each Councillor in all...

Jamaica’s poverty rate dropped to a record low of 7.8 per cent in 2024. The rate, which is the lowest on record since 1989, is down from the previous historic low of 8.2 per cent in 2023. Director General of the Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ), Dr. Wayne Henry, in providing the statistics during the entity’s hybrid quarterly press conference...

Director General at the Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ), Dr. Wayne Henry, is projecting that it will take between three and five years for Jamaica’s economy to return to pre-Hurricane Melissa output levels. “There was significant loss of productive assets, which implies that an extended time is required to rebuild. Given that recovery from COVID-19 took two years with productive...

The Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ) says the economy is expected to return to growth in the October to December 2026 quarter, following the devastation caused by Hurricane Melissa. Director General at the PIOJ, Dr. Wayne Henry, gave the projection during the PIOJ’s hybrid quarterly press briefing on Tuesday (November 25). He said that the economy is expected to contract...