The Office of Utilities Regulation (OUR) has embarked on a series of island-wide consultations, aimed at building awareness about the work of the agency in ensuring quality service from utility companies and other service providers. The year-long outreach series dubbed ‘Parish Connections’ is targeted at consumers in under-served rural parishes. It involves partnership with the Consumer Advisory Committee on Utilities,...

Minister of Finance and Planning, Dr. the Hon. Peter Phillips, says the relationship with Japan has been dynamic, and one that is cherished. “This dynamic relationship was at the centre of the numerous meetings that Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller attended during her visit to Japan in November 2013. This kind of deep relationship is not one that happens overnight,...

The Government has received approximately $8.6 billion (US$75 million) in loan support from the World Bank to bolster the ongoing programme of economic growth and development for Jamaica. The provision, under the First Competitiveness and Fiscal Management Policy Loan Project, will support structural reforms designed to enhance Jamaica’s competitiveness, thereby improving the investment climate. It is part of a larger...

The Jamaica Mortgage Bank (JMB) has launched a technical support services product that will assist financial institutions to make more informed decisions about construction financing. Speaking at the product launch recently, in Kingston, JMB’s Director of Business Operations, Hecton Hemans, said that after assessing the number of default loans on its books, the bank decided to set up a technical...

Tax Administration Jamaica (TAJ) is reminding business operators that they have less than two (2) weeks remaining to file their income tax returns ahead of the March 15 deadline. Self-employed individuals, partners, companies, other bodies and employed persons with additional sources of income are therefore urged to prepare and file their annual return for 2014 and declare their estimated income...

International Monetary Fund (IMF) Representative in Jamaica, Dr. Bert van Selm, says the country is positioned to achieve increased economic growth of up to three per cent over the medium term. This, he said, is based on the Government’s timely implementation of the Economic Reform Programme (ERP), being supported by the IMF’s Extended Fund Facility (EFF). “The bottom line, really,...

The Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ) will continue the implementation of the European Development Fund (EDF) Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) Capacity Building Project, this year, with a $37.9 million allocation in the 2015/16 Estimates of Expenditure, now before Parliament. The project aims to facilitate increased production and more diversified export of agricultural and agro-processed products to the European Union (EU)...