The Bank of Jamaica (BOJ) says the economy is still projected to grow in the range of 2.5 to 4.5 per cent for fiscal year 2022/23. This, following an 8.2 per cent outturn recorded in 2021/22, Governor, Richard Byles, has said. Speaking during the BOJ’s semi-virtual quarterly media briefing on Friday (November 18), Mr. Byles said Jamaica’s economy continues to...

The Senate, on Thursday (November 17), approved the Income Tax (Amendment) Act, 2022, which ensures conformity with international obligations. Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, Senator the Hon. Kamina Johnson Smith, who piloted the legislation in the Upper House, said the Bill is a companion to the recently passed Special Economic Zone Amendment Act. “Both pieces of legislation work...

Fourteen organisations have been awarded grants totalling $28 million by the Digicel Foundation to undertake community development projects. The support, under the Foundation’s Community Development grants programme, is part of the entity’s 18th anniversary celebrations. Speaking to JIS News at a grant award ceremony held recently at Digicel’s head office, downtown Kingston, Chairman of the Foundation, Jean Lowrie-Chin, said that...

The application window for the fourth edition of the Innovation Grant for New Ideas to Entrepreneurship (IGNITE IV) for entrepreneurs and small businesses to access up to $7 million, is now open. The announcement was made by the Development Bank of Jamaica (DBJ) in a release, on November 9. The DBJ’s IGNITE IV programme targets innovative businesses which are seeking...

Minister of Finance and the Public Service, Dr. the Hon. Nigel Clarke, has informed that significant progress is being made towards implementation of the restructured public-sector compensation package. Speaking in the House of Representatives on November 8, when he tabled the First Supplementary Estimates for the 2022/23 fiscal year, Dr. Clarke said the Ministry is having simultaneous consultations with the...

The Government will be increasing budgetary spending by approximately $60 billion during the current 2022/23 fiscal year. The details are contained in the First Supplementary Estimates of Expenditure, tabled by Minister of Finance and the Public Service, Dr. the Hon. Nigel Clarke, in the House of Representatives on Tuesday (November 8). Parliament had previously approved a budget of $912 billion...

The Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ) is pursuing two main strategies to highlight and promote the use of best practices for community development. Speaking at the seventh staging of the Symposium on Best Practices for Social and Community Development on Wednesday, November 2 at The Jamaica Pegasus hotel, the agency’s Director General, Dr. Wayne Henry, said that this is being...