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Finance and Planning Minister, Dr. the Hon. Peter Phillips, is attributing the successful implementation of the National Debt Exchange (NDX) programme, to extensive consultations and open dialogue between the Government and participating financial institutions. The Ministry of Finance and Planning, which piloted the programme, concluded its implementation on March 22 with commitments from eight of Jamaica’s leading financial institutions to...

Minister with responsibility for the Public Service, Hon. Horace Dalley, says efforts are continuing to lobby support for the public sector wage restraint agreement by unions not yet on board. The three-year agreement, which was signed earlier this month, will see the island’s civil servants forgoing major wage increases for the period 2013 to 2015. This forms part of the...

Finance and Planning Minister, Dr. the Hon. Peter Phillips, is assuring that there are no plans for tax increases to finance the 2013/14 Budget, scheduled to be tabled in Parliament on April 4. Speaking at the Jamaica House media briefing at the Office of the Prime Minister on Wednesday, March 27, Dr. Phillips said Cabinet, during its retreat earlier this...

he Government is awaiting the outcome of discussions involving the International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank and Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), which will determine funding support that will be provided to complement an IMF’s extended fund facility for Jamaica. This is deemed vital to the administration securing the IMF’s support for the country’s economic reform programme over the next four...

A Bill to empower Minister of Finance and Planning, Dr. the Hon. Peter Phillips, to write off arrears of taxes as well as penalties determined to be uncollectable, was approved by the Senate on March 21.   The Bill, titled the Tax Collection Amendment Act, also provides for regulations empowering the Minister to provide a tax debt arrears management system,...

The Senate, on Friday (March 22), approved a Bill for the establishment of Tax Administration Jamaica (TAJ) as a semi-autonomous revenue authority. The Tax Administration Jamaica Act 2013 was piloted by Justice Minister, Senator the Hon. Mark Golding. He explained that the TAJ will be responsible for registration, taxpayer services, audit, investigations, assessments, collection, enforcement, legal representation, and various support...

Prime Minister, the Most Hon. Portia Simpson Miller on Wednesday, March 20, commissioned into service the New Forest/Duff House Irrigation System in Manchester which will provide a consistent and stable water system for some 497 farmers. The Prime Minister also handed out land titles to 20 of 132 farmers for whom titles have been prepared under the irrigation project and...

Finance and Planning Minister, Dr. the Hon. Peter Phillips, saysthere is need for a review of the overall arrangements of the Students’ Loan Bureau (SLB), to address, among other things, the high delinquency rate. “There is too high a delinquency ratio in relation to some of these funds and loans on the portfolio. It is designed as a revolving fund,...

Discussions are underway involving the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), and the World Bank, regarding the extent of their commitments in support of the IMF programme for Jamaica. This was disclosed by Minister of Finance and Planning, Dr. the Hon. Peter Phillips, during the sitting of the House of Representatives on Tuesday, March 19. He was...

Jamaica has received US$2.4 billion in funding support from Venezuela under the PetroCaribe agreement, since the facility’s establishment in 2005. Chief Executive Officer of the PetroCaribe Development Fund (PDF), which administers the facility in Jamaica, Dr. Wesley Hughes, says the funds, allocated between July 2005 and January 2013, have financed projects, spearheaded at the community and national levels. Speaking at...

A Bill which seeks to empower the Minister of Finance and Planning, Dr. the Hon. Peter Phillips, to write off arrears of taxes as well as penalties determined to be uncollectible, was approved by the House of Representatives on March 12. Piloting the Bill, the Minister noted that this is part of the overall commitment to general tax reform and...

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is to inject US$210 million into the Financial System Support Fund to assist institutions that may experience difficulty as a result of the National Debt Exchange (NDX). The additional support will bring the amount in the fund to US$850 million, up from the US$640 million that the IMF originally put into the facility, when it...