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Minister of Finance and the Public Service, Hon. Audley Shaw, has cited increased interest costs and public sector wages, as the main reasons for the approximately $6.3 billion increase in the First Supplementary Estimates, which were tabled in the House of Representatives yesterday (Sept. 22). The increase brings the 2009/10 Budget to $561.3 billion, up from $555 billion. Minister Shaw,...

Finance and the Public Service Minister, Hon. Audley Shaw, has again dismissed criticisms that the Government was passive in its response to implement measures to cushion Jamaica against the impact of the global economic downturn. Addressing the monthly Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica (PSOJ) Chairman Club's Forum at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel, today (September 22), Mr. Shaw said the administration,...

Government's commitment to sustained interest rate reductions forms a key part of the medium term programme, which a technical team, led by Bank of Jamaica (BoJ) Governor, Hon. Derick Latibeaudiere, will present to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), at today's (September 22), scheduled meeting in Washington, D.C., United States. This was stated by Minister of Finance and the Public Service,...

Minister of Finance and the Public Service, Hon. Audley Shaw, has informed that as at the end of August, a total of $4.8 billion has been collected from the Special Consumption Tax (SCT) on fuel. Mr. Shaw was responding to a question posed by Opposition Spokesman on Transport and Works, Robert Pickersgill, at last Wednesday's (Sept. 16) sitting of the...

The Bank of Jamaica says it will be issuing a high security $5,000 banknote on Thursday (September 24). The note will be legal tender for all monetary transactions, and will complement the existing family of banknotes; namely $50, $100, $500 and $1,000. The portrait of the late former Prime Minster of Jamaica, the Rt. Hon. Hugh Lawson Shearer, appears on...

The Bank of Jamaica (BOJ) has announced that effective Thursday (September 17), the rates offered on its Certificates of Deposit have been reduced by 100 basis points. The six-month benchmark rate will, therefore, move from 18 per cent per annum to 17 per cent. The full schedule of BOJ rates is set out below. Tenor30-days60-days90-days120-days180-daysNew rates 12.50% 13.00% 15.50% 15.70%...

The Bank of Jamaica (BoJ), has issued new shaped $1 and $10 coins into circulation. Both coins, which were issued last week, bear the images of National Heroes, the Rt. Excellent Sir Alexander Bustamante, and the Rt. Excellent George William Gordon, respectively, on one side, and the National Coat of Arms on the other. The original $1 coin has a...

Newly appointed Financial Secretary in the Ministry of Finance and the Public Service, Dr. Wesley Hughes, has charged players in Jamaica's music industry, to mobilise themselves into groups, which are able to formally lobby for their interests. Dr. Hughes was speaking on September 15, at a meeting of the Jamaica Reggae Industry Association (JARIA), held at the Jamaica Trade and...

Managing Director of Sterling Asset Management, Charles Ross, has said that borrowing from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), is the least painful option for Jamaica at this time. Mr. Ross, who was addressing the weekly meeting of the Rotary Club of Mandeville yesterday (Sept. 15) at the Golf View Hotel in Manchester, noted that a number of countries in the...

Head of the Bank of Jamaica's (BoJ) Currency Department, Mr. Norbert Bryan, says the new $5,000 note, to be issued on September 24, will prove challenging to be counterfeited, given the design of its security features. Speaking with JIS News, Mr. Bryan said the printers and consultants had undertaken "a lot of research and development" in designing the note, adding...

The Bank of Jamaica (BoJ) is set to issue the new $5,000 note into general circulation on September 24, and will be staging a series of seminars to assist in sensitising financial sector stakeholders and the wider public on the note's new features. The seminars will be held in Kingston, Montego Bay and Mandeville, beginning Wednesday (September 16), ahead of...

Minister of Finance and the Public Service, Hon. Audley Shaw, said last night that the outstanding cost to the country of co-hosting Cricket World Cup (CWC) 2007 has risen by an additional $1.4 billion, being claimed by Israeli-owned construction firm, Ashtrom Building Systems, for refurbishing Sabina Park. "That is what I discovered this week," Mr. Shaw told a large crowd...