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KINGSTON — The Government will continue to target poverty alleviation in the new fiscal year, including an allocation of $2.8 billion in 2011/12 Budget to the Jamaica Social Investment Fund (JSIF), an agency of the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM), to undertake a number of projects. The Inner-City Basic Services project (ICBSP) has been allotted the lion’s share of...

KINGSTON — A Fiscal Systems Modernisation project, aimed at increased tax compliance, reduced costs and more efficiency in the public sector, is to be instituted this financial year. Some $550 million has been allotted in the 2011/12 Estimates of Expenditure, now before the House of Representations, to implement the project. It involves reforming the Jamaica Tax Administration into a modern...

KINGSTON — The 2011/12 session of Parliament opened on April 14 at Gordon House with the ceremonial pomp and pageantry, highlighted by the delivery of the Throne Speech by Governor General, His Excellency the Most Hon. Sir. Patrick Allen. Proceedings began promptly at 10:30 a.m. with the arrival of the Guard of Honour led by the Jamaica Military Band, with...

KINGSTON — The Jamaica Competitiveness Enhancement Programme is to receive $28.43 million in the new fiscal year to continue facilitating economic growth, by promoting specific reforms to reduce the cost of doing business. This will improve efficiency and the ability of businesses to compete in the global marketplace. The funds, which have been set aside in the 2011/2012 Estimates of...

KINGSTON — The study on adolescent dislocation in the island has been allotted $12.9 million in the 2011/2012 Estimates of expenditure, which were tabled in the House of Representatives on April 14. The project seeks to deepen the understanding of the causes and characteristics of adolescent dislocation in the Jamaican context, using a gender perspective. The project, which was slated...

KINGSTON-Minister of Finance and the Public Service, Hon Audley Shaw, tabled Estimates of Expenditure totaling $545 billion for 2011/12, in the House of Representatives Thursday April 14. The gross budget figure is approximately $556 billion but, minus appropriations-in-aid (daily incomes) which add up to $11.2 billion, it nets at $544.7 billion for the fiscal year. This is approximately $48 billion...

KINGSTON–The 2011/12 session of Parliament opened yesterday (April 14) at Gordon House with the ceremonial pomp and pageantry, highlighted by the delivery of the Throne Speech by Governor General, His Excellency the Most Hon. Sir. Patrick Allen. Proceedings began promptly at 10:30 a.m. with the arrival of the Guard of Honour led by the Jamaica Military Band, with its sweet...

New Financial Year This new session of Parliament opens against the backdrop of a global economic recovery that is proving to be slow, uneven and uncertain. The significant increases which we have recently been experiencing in the cost of imported oil and grain are a worrying reminder of what took place in 2008 when these prices reached record levels and...

KINGSTON — The State Opening of Parliament will take place on April 14, beginning at 11:00 a.m. Governor-General, His Excellency the Most Hon. Sir Patrick Allen will deliver the Throne Speech, in which he will outline the government’s programmes and policies for the 2011/12 Fiscal Year, which began on April 1. Later in the afternoon, Minister of Finance and the...

KINGSTON — The Senate, on April 7, approved amendments to a bill, which will exempt certain categories of Caribbean Community (CARICOM) nationals from the work permit requirement. Minister of Justice and Attorney General, Senator the Hon. Dorothy Lightbourne, who piloted the Foreign Nationals and Commonwealth Citizens (Employment) (Amendment) Act, said the changes are in keeping with Chapter Three of the...

KINGSTON — The Senate on April 8 approved a report from a Joint Select Committee of Parliament on the review of Jamaica's libel laws. The contents of the report will now go to the Chief Parliamentary Counsel for the Bill to be prepared, which will then be signed off on by Cabinet. Minister of State for Finance and the Public...

KINGSTON — The House of Representatives on April 5, even after a lengthy session that started minutes to 11:00 a.m., was unable to pass the Corruption Prevention (Special Prosecutor) Act as members could not come to a consensus on several concerns raised. Prime Minister, the Hon. Bruce Golding, who piloted the Bill, conceded at 5:00 p.m. that it would not...