The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the integration of technology in people’s working lives, says Minister of Finance and the Public Service, Dr. the Hon. Nigel Clarke. “In a way, it has pushed us to find enhanced ways to continue to deliver public services to Jamaicans,” the Minister noted. In his speech read by Minister of State in the Ministry, Marsha...

Tax Administration Jamaica (TAJ) wishes to advise taxpayers that it is currently unable to collect payments for Traffic Ticket fines at a Tax Office or via the Tax Authority’s online system. This unavoidable challenge is as a result of the finalized list of traffic offence codes not yet being provided to the Revenue Authority to effect changes to its systems, to enable collection of the fines...

The Transformation Implementation Unit (TIU) is reporting a 95 per cent Service Level Agreement (SLA) rate since the commencement of the pilot for Human Resource (HR) Shared Services in March 2021. Human Resource  services are provided through the MyHR+ Shared Service Centre to four ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs), namely, Office of the Services Commissions; the Passport, Immigration and Citizenship...

After further consideration of the incorporation process of JAMALCO presently ongoing, Prime Minister Andrew Holness has transferred portfolio responsibility for Clarendon Alumina Production Limited (CAP) from the Ministry of Transport and Mining to the Ministry of Finance and the Public Service. The Government of Jamaica holds its 45% interest in the JAMALCO refinery through CAP. JAMALCO is a major industrial...

The Bank of Jamaica (BOJ) says remittance inflows for the first 10 months of 2021 (end of October), totalled approximately US$2.5 billion, as against US$2 billion for the corresponding period last year, to remain strong despite the impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. “We’re not seeing remittances going down; we are still seeing growth," Deputy Governor in charge of Banking,...

The Bank of Jamaica (BOJ) is slated to commence national rollout of the Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) platform during the first quarter of 2022. Deputy Governor with responsibility for Banking, Currency Operations, and Financial Markets, Natalie Haynes, says it is anticipated that by then, additional deposit-taking institutions (DTIs) will be onboarded to enable the issuing of wallets to facilitate...

The Bank of Jamaica (BOJ) is reporting that the country’s gross international reserves, as at November 17, totalled approximately US$4.7 billion. Governor, Richard Byles, said the figure represents the equivalent of 143.8 per cent of the level considered adequate. Deputy Governor with responsibility for Banking, Currency Operations, and Financial Markets, Natalie Haynes, indicated that net international reserves (NIR), at the...