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On March 18, 2009, Standard & Poor's Ratings Services lowered Jamaica's long-term foreign and local currency sovereign credit ratings on Jamaica to 'B-' from 'B', one notch down in the rating scale. The short term debt was also lowered one notch down from 'B' to 'C'. However, the recovery rating of '4' and the negative outlook remained unchanged. Simultaneously, the...

Head of the Caribbean Development Bank's (CDB) Social Sector Division, Yvonne Moses Grant, says the prevailing economic crisis presents Caribbean countries with an opportunity for creative innovative solutions to deal with the challenges. "We must be creative and imaginative, finding the best solutions to the problems we face, creating new employment opportunities to offset the anticipated layoffs at the workplace,...

Minister of Finance and the Public Service, Audley Shaw, has said that the 2009/10 Budget, which would be presented in April, would provide stimulus to enhance productive capacity. "That is something that the government intends to focus on, (and) we have started. This Budget that comes out in April is going to show different avenues of how we are going...

Head of Psychiatry at the University of the West Indies, Dr. Wendel Abel, has said that Jamaicans are noted for being able to survive hard economical times. "The economists say that Jamaica is a remarkable country, because every time it appears to be teetering on the brink of disaster, and every time they expect Jamaica to collapse, the country comes...

Secretary Manager of the St. Catherine Parish Council, Christopher Powell, has urged residents to pay up their property taxes, to ensure delivery of services provided by the Council. Mr. Powell said that non-payment of these taxes has a restrictive effect on the Council, as the money is needed to pay for services, such as street lighting and solid waste collection...

Community organisations in St. Thomas can now access funds from the St. Thomas Credit Union, Morant Bay, to start social and income generating projects. The organization is one of six credit unions that have received grant funding from the European Union (EU) under the Rural Diversification Programme. Speaking at a JIS/Social Development Commission (SDC) community meeting on Thursday (March 12)...

Minister of Finance and the Public Service, Audley Shaw, has said that Jamaica's economic transformation must be underpinned by corresponding pursuits in education. Mr. Shaw contended that it is only through the "enablement of our people intellectually, through technology and the learning process of how to do things better, more efficiently (and) productively," that Jamaica will be able to achieve...

The government is given renewed impetus to the process of staunching the bleeding of billions of dollars from the public purse, achieving greater transparency, while ensuring the speedy processing of government contracts. This process is being undertaken through the promulgation and implementation of the Revised Handbook of Public Sector Procurement Procedures and Standard Bidding Documents, December 2008, during the 2009/10...

The deadline for companies, self-employed persons, and employees with alternative sources of earnings to submit their income tax returns for 2008, has been pushed to Monday, March 16. The Tax Administration Services Department (TASD) had originally set March 15 as the deadline, but this has been revised as the date falls on a Sunday. In an interview with JIS News,...

Minister without Portfolio in the Ministry of Finance and the Public Service, Senator Dwight Nelson, has said there is an urgent need to fast-track the transformation of existing structures in the public sector. "There are still too many structures in the pubic sector that are antiquated, that are old, that are not in keeping with modern needs and, as such,...

The Financial Services Commission (FSC) plans to move decisively this year to address glitches in the laws governing the Mutual Trust Fund and Unit Trust, as it seeks to stave off the havoc unleashed by the global economic meltdown. Executive Director of the FSC, Rohan Barrett, asserted today (March 9), that the global financial crisis presents an opportunity to change...

Minister of Finance and the Public Service, Audley Shaw, has said that the Government is committed to maintaining free health care for all Jamaicans at public health facilities. Mr. Shaw was speaking at a Rotary Club of Christiana dinner at the Mandeville Hotel, on Wednesday (March 4) to honour a group of American dentists who have been providing voluntary dental...