1.1 Salutations & Expressions of Gratitude Mr. Speaker, I would like to begin by thanking Almighty God for his kindness, as well as his many blessings, and mercy. To God be the Glory, great things He hath done. Today, March 8, is International Women’s Day, a global day, which celebrates the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women and...

CONDITIONAL CASH TRANSFER FOR THE VACCINATED Madam Speaker, in March, 2020 after the first case of COVID-19 was diagnosed in Jamaica, this Government moved swiftly to build a programme to mitigate the impact of the pandemic and that of the necessary measures to combat the pandemic. The Government, through a multi-agency team, led by the Ministry of Finance and the...

Madam Speaker the COVID-19 pandemic has interrupted the usual patterns of life. The Government continues to innovate policies and programmes to address the issues that have arisen on account of this pandemic. I announced the SERVE Jamaica Programme in my budget presentation which is a $60 billion programme of social and economic initiatives to boost economic activity and support Jamaicans...

"In my Closing Budget presentation on March 23, I announced additional support of $126 million for the vulnerable through the Constituency Development Fund (“CDF”) which would make available J$2 million for each Constituency. I also explained that, for technical and logistics reasons, this disbursement would occur in the new financial year that began on Holy Thursday (April 1). For accountability...

Expression of Gratitude Madam Speaker, I rise this afternoon to close the budget debate on the Appropriation Bill for the 2021/22 fiscal year. This is the 59th budget debate in Jamaica’s independent history. Though it takes place in the almost impossible context of the worst economic crisis in our history and the worst health crisis in our country, it has...

Preparing Jamaica To Recover Stronger   Salutations & Expressions of Gratitude Mr. Speaker, I begin by thanking Almighty God, from whom all blessings flow. Great is thy faithfulness. Great is thy mercy and thy loving kindness. Madam Speaker, I could not have possibly made it through this year without the support of family, friends and colleagues. Due to the restrictions...

OPENING REMARKS The 2021/22 fiscal year central government and public body budgets have been formulated around the continuing global and local impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and the efforts to counter its spread and restore higher levels of economic activity. The Covid-19 pandemic generated both a health crisis and an economic crisis during the current financial year 2020/21. The pandemic...

1)   Jamaica’s mutual evaluation report against the International Standards on Combatting Money   Laundering   and   the   Financing   of   Terrorism   and   Proliferation   (“FATF   40” Recommendations)  was  done  in  2015  by  the  Caribbean  Financial  Action  Task  Force (“CFATF”)  and  published  by  the  CFATF  in  2017.  The  report  reflected  a  substantial number of deficiencies in Jamaica’s legislative framework (also referred to as “technical compliance” ...