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Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) President Luis Moreno arrived in the island this afternoon, Sunday January 18 2009 to participate in the IDB's III Regional Forum on Violence Prevention and Citizen Security; sign three loan contracts with the Government valued at US$329 million and hold talks with the Government on the Bank's programme in Jamaica. In welcoming the President, Minister of...

The World Bank, Board of Directors on Thursday (Jan. 15), approved a US$100 million loan for Jamaica to assist the Government in improving fiscal management and debt sustainability. Minister of Finance and the Public Service, Audley Shaw, who has been relentless in his efforts to access multilateral loans at favourable interest rates, said that, "this loan supports Jamaica's efforts to...

Minister of Finance and the Public Service, Audley Shaw, has said that the Domestic Tax Administration Project, which was launched on Monday, January 12, 2008, is a critical element of the reform of tax administration in Jamaica. "The new developments signal the Government's continued commitment to facilitate businesses, modernise revenue administration, enhance the fiscal prudence and promote good corporate governance,"...

The Government is committed to "positioning our economy to take full advantage of the eventual upturn in the global economy", said Finance and the Public Service Minister, Audley Shaw. He was addressing the recent ground breaking ceremony for a business complex for Stocks and Securities Limited held recently in Kingston. The Minister emphasised that in order to rebuild the foundation...

The Government is preparing a medium-term strategy for public sector labour relations in order to manage wages, sustain and improve the quality of the public workforce, and increase workforce efficiency. Minister without portfolio in the Ministry of Finance and the Public Service, Senator Don Wehby, during his Sectoral Presentation in the Senate on Friday (Nov. 14), said the new strategy...

Minister of Finance and Planning, Dr. Omar Davies, has called on the board and management of the Export-Import (EX-IM) Bank to consider broadening its client base to include persons involved in the services sector, including entertainment. Dr. Davies, who was addressing the Bank's 20th anniversary awards ceremony last night (May 31) at the University of the West Indies' Mona campus,...

Acting Assistant Commissioner of Taxpayer Services, Venice Ricketts, is imploring self-employed and small business operators to utilize the services offered by the Special Taxpayer Service Programme. Speaking with JIS News, Miss Ricketts said the programme is normally conducted from January to March of each year, to coincide with the filing period for income tax final returns. "The series, which started...

Minister of Finance and Planning, Dr. Omar Davies has reiterated that there would be no wage freeze when the next memorandum of understanding (MOU) is signed between government and public servants in April. "The successor MOU agreement will not have a wage freeze. We couldn't ask people who have worked for two years without an increase to go into another...

The second staging of the Ministry of Finance and Planning's annual quiz competition got underway yesterday (January 24), as two teams comprising staff members from the Ministry's Public Enterprise and Economic Divisions faced off in the first of the seven-round contest. In a brief ceremony preceding the quiz, Finance and Planning Minister, Dr. Omar Davies praised the competition as being...

The 2004/05 financial year saw significant strides being made in the enhancement of the regulatory framework of the Financial Services Commission (FSC) with the introduction of and amendments to several bits of legislation. Among them were the passing of the Pensions Act (2004) and the amendments to the FSC Act 2001, allowing the Commission to disclose information to a wider...

Acting Managing Director of the Jamaica Mortgage Bank (JMB), Milverton Reynolds is predicting that the 2006/07 financial year will be a very profitable one for the JMB. "We really expect that 2006/07 is going to be a very good year for the bank in terms of our financing of residential construction. We're actually projecting total commitments of $3.7 billion financing...

Changes to transfer tax rates on estates at death, become effective tomorrow (June 1), as announced by Finance and Planning Minister, Dr. Omar Davies during his budget presentation in Parliament in April. As a result, at death there will be no tax on the first $100,000.00 value of the estate to be transferred. Thereafter, amounts over $100,000.00 will be at...