The Ministry of Tourism (MOT) and the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Mining (MOAFM) will compete in the final of the 2025 Public Sector Debate Competition. Organised by the Transformation Implementation Unit (TIU) in the Ministry of Finance and the Public Service, this year’s staging brought together 26 teams, with 19 returning entrants and seven first-timers. Executive Director of TIU,...

Tax Administration Jamaica (TAJ) has increased the number of offices that offer same day processing of Driver’s Licence. The Annotto Bay Tax Office now offers the complete Driver’s Licence Service, whilst the Portmore Tax Office will offer renewal services only, at this time. The other offices where full Driver’s Licence Services are offered are:  Kingston Revenue Service Centre ...

Motorists are being advised that there will be temporary traffic changes along the Rose Hall main road in Montego Bay on Saturday (July 5), beginning at 5:00 a.m., to facilitate the staging of the 18th CARICOM Road Races. Sub-officer in charge of traffic for St. James, Inspector Gregory Hall, told JIS News that the westbound lane of the dual carriageway...

Jamaica’s calendar year first-quarter gross domestic product (GDP) growth of 1.1 per cent, recorded between January and March 2025, was driven by positive out-turns across most goods-producing and services industry subsectors. This was disclosed by Acting Director General of the Statistical Institute of Jamaica (STATIN), Leesha Delatie-Budair, during a virtual Economic Statistics Media Stakeholders Meeting on the revision to the...

The Statistical Institute of Jamaica (STATIN) is on track to release the official population count for the 2022 Population and Housing Census by the end of September 2025. This was disclosed by Acting Director General, Leesha Delatie-Budair, who indicated that, “we are currently in our final stages of data validation”. She was responding to a question posed during Thursday’s (July...

The Government is currently finalising the next phase of the Public Sector Modernisation Programme, aimed at enhancing service delivery, streamlining operations, and aligning public administration with Jamaica’s evolving development priorities. This was disclosed by Minister of Finance and the Public Service, Hon. Fayval Williams, who indicated that the next phase of reform will prioritise accelerated digitisation to improve accessibility, efficiency,...

The Accountant General’s Department (AGD) is reassuring pensioners and the public that payments for the June 2025 pay cycle were successfully and timely disbursed to 34,106 pensioners on June 25, 2025. The AGD is aware that life certificates for approximately 82 pensioners were not automatically uploaded due to a technical processing error. To address this, the processing of advanced payments...