The import duty on electric vehicles has been reduced from 30 per cent to 10 per cent, and purchasers of those vehicles will not have to pay licence fees over the next five years. The House of Representatives on Tuesday (July 19) approved the Customs Tariff (Revision) (Amendment) (No. 2), Resolution, 2022, and the Road Traffic (Licence Duties) Order, 2022,...

The Development Bank of Jamaica (DBJ) is providing $1-billion to bolster the country’s agriculture sector through its new ‘AgriBiz’ facility. The programme, launched on Tuesday (July 19) at the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries in Kingston, will provide concessional loans for micro, small and medium-sized farmers. Farmers and agribusiness entrepreneurs will be able to access loans of up to $30...

Minister of State in the Office of the Prime Minister, Hon. Homer Davis (left), holds discussions with newly appointed People’s Republic of China Ambassador to Jamaica, His Excellency Chen Daojiang (right), during a courtesy call at the Office of the Prime Minister - West in Montego Bay, St. James, on Friday (July 15). Listening is interpreter, Shiming Zhao.

The Statistical Institute of Jamaica (STATIN) is reporting that the largest increase in employment by occupation group, in April 2022, was recorded in ‘Service Workers and Shop and Market Sales Workers’, which climbed by 18,500 persons to 283,900. This represented a seven-percentage point increase, according to the Statistical Institute of Jamaica’s (STATIN) Labour Force Survey for the month. The findings...

Jamaica’s unemployment rate fell to a new record low of six per cent in April 2022, to continue the downward trajectory occurring in recent months. This outturn, according to the Statistical Institute of Jamaica’s (STATIN) April Labour Force Survey, is 0.2 percentage point lower than the figure for January 2022. Director General, Carol Coy, said it also represents a three-percentage...

Public sector workers, who earn salaries at the lowest levels, will receive support for back-to-school expenses from the Government. This was announced by Minister of Finance and the Public Service, Dr. the Hon. Nigel Clarke, at a virtual press conference on Tuesday (July 12). “We are working to ensure that we will have in place, a programme that persons who...

The deadline for the submission of applications for the Betting, Gaming and Lotteries Commission’s (BGLC) Tertiary Education Grant has been extended to Friday, July 22. Applications should be completed online via the application portal, which is accessible through the BGLC’s website at www.bglc.gov.jm. The online process requires persons to do an eligibility check before they can access the application form....