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The second tranche of the two-tiered income tax threshold increase for Pay As You Earn (PAYE) contributors and pensioners for the 2009/10 fiscal year, takes effect on Friday, January 1, 2010. The tax threshold will move from its initial increase of $320,736, which was effected on July 1, 2009, to $441,168. The new figure will double the level of just...

The agro-processing sector accounted for 30 per cent of the total loans disbursed by the National Export Import (Ex-Im) Bank of Jamaica during the 2008/09 financial year. This amounted to some $1.96 billion, and was the highest category of loans disbursed. The distribution and services sector accounted for $1.92 billion, while manufacturing followed with $1.54 billion. The food and beverage,...

The National Export-Import (Ex-Im) Bank of Jamaica is reporting that it achieved a significant milestone during the 2008/09 fiscal period, with its loan usage (local and foreign), totaling $6.5 billion. This was an increase of more than 35 per cent over the $4.8 billion achieved for the previous year. "This performance was particularly gratifying, as the Bank faced numerous challenges...

The Ministry of Finance and the Public Service has made available $500 million to provide increases for Government pensioners in 2009/10. A Ministry Paper (Number 126/09) tabled by the Minister of Finance and the Public Service Hon. Audley Shaw, in the House of Representatives on December 15, says that $462.3 million is for Government Pensioners paid by the Accountant General,...

These revised revenue measures reflect changes made to the measures presented in Parliament on Thursday December 17, 2009 by Ministry Paper 128/09. The main feature of this revision is the withdrawal of the proposal to widen the GCT base for a yield of $6.2Billion and to substitute general new measures. Accordingly, a revised summary is hereby provided. Click to see...

Prime Minister, the Hon. Bruce Golding, said Wednesday night (December 23) that his administration accepted the principle of sharing the tax burden more proportionately and equitably as a sound argument. He said that, accordingly, the following additional measures will be introduced in the revised tax package: The personal income tax rate will be increased to 27.5 per cent on all...

Prime Minister the Hon. Bruce Golding on Wednesday night (December 23) announced a revised tax package which seeks to minimise, as much as possible, the impact on poor families. The new package ensures that basic food items, sanitary napkins, disposable diapers, orthopedic apparatus including wheelchairs, white canes for the blind and other aids for the disabled, sports equipment, furnishing for...

The Competitiveness Company today (December 22), signed a US$150,000 agreement with the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), to support and improve the competitiveness and profitability of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs). This initiative, which is being financed through the IDB's Multilateral Investment Fund (MIF), will seek to accomplish this objective through the effective management and promotion of the intellectual property...

President of the Private Sector Organization of Jamaica (PSOJ), Joseph M. Matalon, has explained that the organization is not in favour of the one percent increase in the General Consumption Tax (GCT) rate announced in Parliament last Thursday. 'We believe that the Government may find that there are diminishing returns in terms of the revenue performance from increases in the...

President of the Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica (PSOJ), Joseph M. Matalon, sees the Government's latest tax package as "necessary", in light of the impact of the global economic crisis on Jamaica. In an interview with JIS News Friday (December), Mr. Matalon, while describing the tax package as "very significant" and "perhaps one of the largest in the history of...

Prime Minister, the Hon. Bruce Golding, says the length of time that the negotiations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has taken, has nothing to do with the competence of the negotiating team. "The fact is that the negotiating team is largely the same team that has been interacting with the IMF over many years," he said, while addressing a...

The Government and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have brokered an agreement on key elements of a US$1.3 billion Standby Loan Arrangement (SBA) for budgetary support for the economy, Finance and Public Service Minister, Hon. Audley Shaw, has announced. Funding is being sought by the administration in light of declines in revenue and foreign exchange earnings, due to the global...