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Building on its financial support of businesses operating within the productive sector, the National Export-Import (EXIM) Bank of Jamaica Limited, has introduced a Champions Assist programme, to further help small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). To benefit at least 15 viable SMEs in the agri-business sector initially, the programme, launched earlier this month by EXIM Bank, will allow agri-businesses to access...

KINGSTON — Co-owner of once popular furniture and appliance retailer, Homelectrix, George Hugh, told the FINSAC Commission of Enquiry, Tuesday February 22 that his family suffered mentally and financially from the loss of the company following the 1990s financial meltdown. Mr. Hugh noted that, at the time, Homelectrix was the second largest home appliance retailer in the country, to Courts...

Deputy Financial Secretary in the Ministry of Finance and the Public Service, Ann Marie Rhoden says  more equitable arrangements between the publicandprivate sectors are essential for the success of Government’s infrastructural development programmes. Mrs. Rhoden noted that while the Government has engaged in public-private partnerships (PPPs) for the development of infrastructural works, “what we have recognised is that, government has...

Bank of Jamaica (BoJ) Governor, Brian Wynter, is forecasting marginal growth in economic activity for the March quarter, which should spill over into fiscal year 2011/2012. The growth, he said, will be driven by continued expansion in mining and quarrying, hotels and restaurants, and electricity and water supply, which should offset declines in other sectors. Mr. Wynter was addressing the...

KINGSTON — Mandeville businessman, Michael Levy, Thursday (February 17), denied that he signed on to a 55 percent interest rate on a $4 million loan from Eagle Commercial Bank in 1992, which ballooned into his over $1 billion indebtedness to the Jamaica Redevelopment Foundation (RDF) Inc. in 2008. Attorney for JRF, Sandra Phillips, while cross examining Mr. Levy, as the...

Director General in the Ministry of Finance and the Public Service, Devon Rowe, has explained that implementation of the proposed Central Treasury Management System (CTMS), will allow the Government to modernise its operations and maximise the use of its resources. “We can see improved cash management immediately, because government will have access and sight of all its cash at one...

Minister of Finance and the Public Service, the Hon. Audley Shaw today announced the successful placement of a US$400 million Eurobond at a record interest rate of 7.95 percent – the lowest rate at which Jamaica has ever raised funds on the International Capital Market. The offer replaces a US$400 million Eurobond that was issued in 2001 at 11.75 percent...

KINGSTON — A Mandeville businessman told the Commission of Enquiry into the 1990s financial sector collapse, on Wednesday (February 16), how a $4 million loan from the Eagle Commercial Bank in 1994 turned into a $1 billion debt in 2008. Businessman Michael Levy, who owned the Bankhouse Mall on Manchester Road, Mandeville, said that after learning that, despite paying back...

Bank of Jamaica (BOJ) Governor, Brian Wynter, says that, for the calendar year 2010, the value of the Jamaican dollar appreciated by 4.4 per cent against the US dollar, in contrast to the 10.2 per cent depreciation in 2009. Speaking at the BOJ’s quarterly press briefing on Tuesday (February 15) in downtown Kingston, Mr. Wynter noted that the appreciation was...

Minister of Finance and the Public Service, Hon. Audley Shaw, has said that the country’s macro-economic climate is ideal for investing in entrepreneurial ventures.  “I am happy that I can report that the macro-economic climate is now more and more favourable for risk taking for entrepreneurial activity, which is the only sound foundation on which we can create lasting wealth,...

The Government’s efforts to take in every tax dollar is gaining traction, with the Large Taxpayer Office collecting some $63.7 billion in the 2009/2010 fiscal period, and $60.3 billion between April and December of 2010. The office, which was established in 2009, collected $1.1 billion in arrears during the said fiscal period, and $3.95 billion from April to December 2010....

Now that the requisite laws and regulations have been passed and gazetted, any interested party can apply for a licence to establish a credit bureau, and the Bank of Jamaica has indicated its readiness to receive applications. In a statement on Tuesday, February 8, the Bank of Jamaica (BoJ) advised that “under the Credit Reporting Act 2010, the statute which...