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As the Tax Administration steps up its compliance activities against delinquent taxpayers to collect outstanding taxes, several strategies have been employed. The compliance programme will be further intensified in the new fiscal year, which begins April 1, 2010. To date, for the 2009-2010 fiscal year, the increased enforcement actions have seen 3,184 taxpayers being brought before the court for various...

Acting Senior Director for the Debt Management Unit in the Ministry of Finance and the Public Service, Pamela McLaren, has been honoured with a citation by the Private Sector Organization of Jamaica (PSOJ) for her contribution to the success of the Government's debt management regime, on Tuesday (March 23). The citation, read by PSOJ President, Joseph M. Matalon, hailed her...

Human Resource (HR) Managers across the public sector were on March 23, introduced to the Change Management Guidelines to be adhered to, during the public sector transformation process. More than 200 HR specialists from the various ministries, departments and agencies of government met with members of the Public Sector Transformation Unit (PSTU), at the Ministry of Finance and the Public...

Minister of State in the Ministry of Finance and the Public Service, Senator Arthur Williams, outlined measures being taken to deal with the macroeconomic challenge of an oversized public sector wage bill, to an investment seminar in Cancun, Mexico on Sunday (March 21). Senator Williams spoke at an investment seminar hosted by international investment firm, JP Morgan, during the Annual...

Minister of Finance and the Public Service, Hon. Audley Shaw, has indicated that the 2010/11 Budget, which will be tabled on Thursday (March 25), will be $100 billion below the 2009/2010 estimates. "Thursday is going to show quite a bit of compression," Mr. Shaw said, in reference to the fact that the State Opening of the new session of Parliament...

Minister of Finance and the Public Service, Hon. Audley Shaw, has stated that taxes will not be raised in the 2010/2011 financial year, except for property tax, which the Government will have to examine. Mr. Shaw made this disclosure as he opened the debate on the second Supplementary Estimates of Expenditure in the House of Representatives on Wednesday (March 17)....

The Bank of Jamaica Act is to be amended, to accord the Central Bank legal authority to extend its financial stability function to include non-bank financial institutions, including credit unions and other financial intermediaries. Addressing the Mona School of Business Roundtable 2010, 'Managing Risk for Growth & Development', held recently at the Mona Visitors' Lodge and Conference Centre, University of...

Jamaicans living in the United Kingdom (UK) have welcomed the measures introduced by the Jamaican government to restructure the economy and ensure economic growth. Minister of Finance and the Public Service, Hon. Audley Shaw, who addressed a meeting of UK-based Jamaicans, in London, on May 12, said the government intended to return good governance to the country's economy. He said...

The Government tabled the Second Supplementary Estimates in the House of Representatives, Tuesday (March 16), topping up its 2009/10 expenditure by $31.5 billion to $593 billion, mainly to meet debt obligations. The net increases include $21.6 billion in Capital expenditure, nearly all of which goes to the Ministry of Finance and the Public Service for loan repayments, and $9.8 billion...

As the government continues to encourage a culture of tax compliance, persons with outstanding liabilities are being urged to make payment arrangements with the Inland Revenue Department (IRD). "We are aware of the difficult economic times.the approach is to come with your proposal, and an ability to pay statement will be done, and a legal agreement will be signed between...

Minister of Finance and the Public Service, the Hon Audley Shaw, says that the Jamaican Government has been bold and courageous in entering into a new arrangement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). "We have had to make decisions, whether or not they are politically popular," Mr. Shaw told the audience at the Jamaica National Building Society's (JNBS) "Outlook for...

Governor of the Bank of Jamaica (BOJ), Mr. Brian Wynter, wants the University of the West Indies (UWI) to reclaim its historic role of constructive engagement in public policy changes. "The university can contribute to monetary and fiscal challenges, by being the hub for policy discourse that it was in the decade of the 1960s," Mr. Wynter said. He explained...