Finance Ministry Stages Healthy Wallet Expo for Public Sector Workers

The Ministry of Finance and the Public Service will be staging its first Healthy Wallet Expo on Friday, August 19.

The event, which is targeting internal Ministry staff and other public-sector workers, will commence at 9:00 a.m. at the Ministry’s Heroes Circle headquarters.

Director of Corporate Communication and Public Relations at the Ministry, Shelly-Ann Weeks, said the event is meant to empower staff towards achieving financial security.

“This is a part of our overall strategic plan as a Ministry, so that we can have a motivated workforce. When staff have certain needs met, they are more motivated. A very big need that a lot of us have is financially based, so in this effort we want to give the team members the tools to make the money they are already making work harder for them,” Ms. Weeks said.

To achieve this, the Ministry has partnered with several public and private-sector entities, who will set up exhibitions for staff to transact business and be empowered with financial knowledge.

“We have partnered with more than 20 entities, who will converge at the Ministry’s office. We will have JN Bank, Passport Immigration and Citizenship Agency (PICA), EduCom, Sagicor Investments, Courts Jamaica Limited, Tax Administration Jamaica (TAJ), National Housing Trust (NHT), Students’ Loan Bureau (SLB), Magna Rewards, Lynk, Marathon Insurance Brokers, Creditinfo Jamaica to name a few. Persons will come and benefit from a full range of services available until 3:00 p.m.” Ms. Weeks noted.

She is advising attendees to have on hand their public-sector work identification (ID) and any other necessary documents to transact business such as Tax Registration Number (TRN), National Insurance Service (NIS) and passport.

“It’s going to be a very great day of just great transaction and you can come on over if you’re in the public service and… bring your documents to do some business. This is not the expo for you to come and look; if you want to open an account you are going to be able to do so.” Ms. Weeks told JIS News.

She is encouraging the staff at the Finance Ministry and other public-sector workers, especially those at the neighbouring ministries of Labour and Social Security, and Education and Youth to support the Healthy Wallet Expo.

“Investment is a conversation that we hear happening all over the place. Jamaicans are very shy about investing their money… but when the money is in your pocket, it’s not doing anything. When you’re investing, it is growing,” Ms. Weeks pointed out.