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KINGSTON — Preliminary data on the performance of the Jamaican economy for the January to March 2011 quarter, indicate real growth of 1.5 per cent, says Director General of the Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ), Dr. Gladstone Hutchinson. Speaking at the PIOJ’s quarterly press briefing at the institute’s Oxford Road office on Friday (May 20), Dr. Hutchinson said he anticipates...

KINGSTON — Director of the Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ), Dr. Gladstone Hutchinson, is projecting a one to two per cent growth in the Jamaican economy for the current April to June quarter. According to Dr. Hutchinson, the PIOJ is also forecasting a similar one to two per cent improvement in the economy for both the 2011 calendar year and...

KINGSTON — Minister of Finance and the Public Service, Hon. Audley Shaw, used the occasion of the Bank of Jamaica's (BoJ) 50th anniversary banquet on Thursday May 19 to bat for a more independent central bank.    Addressing the gala affair, held at the bank’s Nethersole Place headquarters downtown Kingston, the Minister expressed the Government’s commitment to the BoJ becoming autonomous,...

KINGSTON — Minister of Finance and the Public Service, Hon. Audley Shaw, says that Government has embarked on a new frontier of fiscal responsibility and transparency, with legislation and guidelines before Parliament to ensure prudence in financial management and hold leadership accountable. “We have put forth in Parliament, fiscal responsibility legislation (and) we have a revised procurement handbook that has...

KINGSTON — Governor of the Bank of Jamaica (BOJ), Brian Wynter, confirmed yesterday that the economy has started to show concrete signs of recovery. “This is due to continued recovery in the global economy, and the process of transformation which commenced in 2010,” Mr. Wynter said during his presentation of the Quarterly Monetary Policy Report, at the BOJ, downtown Kingston....

KINGSTON — Attorney Anthony Levy on Tuesday (May 17) formally requested the FINSAC Commission of Enquiry to seek to have former Minister of Water and Housing, Dr. Karl Blythe, appear at the enquiry. Mr. Levy’s request follows on the heels of press reports of Dr. Blythe stating that the previous Government, of which he was a part, was to be...

KINGSTON — Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Jamaica Redevelopment Foundation Inc. (JRF), Jason Rudd, claimed on May 17 that his company, which acquired the FINSAC bad debts in 2002, is being used as the “scapegoat” for the 1990s financial collapse  and the bad debt crisis it triggered. “I have closely followed the hearings of this enquiry, and have tried...

KINGSTON — The Association of Finsac’d Entrepreneurs (AFE) says that the treatment of debtors, who were victims of the 1990s financial meltdown, is a travesty of justice which has been ongoing since then. “We view the treatment of our members as a travesty of justice, that was a political conspiracy with malicious and envious motives and intentions of those who...

KINGSTON — The Financial Sector Adjustment Company (FINSAC) admitted Thursday May 12, that many depositors with the defunct Century National Bank (CNB) have not been repaid their deposits, some 16 years after the bank was taken over and closed down by the Government. But, FINSAC's General Manager, Errol Campbell, told the Commission of Enquiry that it was not its fault...

KINGSTON — Minister of Finance and the Public Service, Hon. Audley Shaw, has attributed the $597 billion increase in the country's debt stock between September, 2007 and March, 2011, to pre-2007 residual factors. This includes $117 billion from the effects of exchange rate movement and consumer price index indexation which, he says, is significantly related to the debt structure the...

KINGSTON — Minister of Finance and the Public Service, Hon. Audley Shaw, has emphasised  that the effects of the global economic crisis on the local economy should not be downplayed. Closing the 2011/12 Budget Debate in the House of Representatives on May 11, Mr. Shaw pointed out that, “countries in the region that enjoyed economic growth at an average of...

KINGSTON — Minister of Finance and the Public Service, Hon. Audley Shaw, has shot down the Opposition’s arguments that the Government’s recently announced revenue measures favour the rich. Closing the 2011/2012 Budget Debate in the House of Representatives, Mr. Shaw emphasised that the only basis for wealth creation is to stimulate investment, and that this is where the Government is...