Gov’t Provides $200 Million for Establishment of Fiscal Research Institute at UWI

The Government is providing a $200 million down payment to endow a Fiscal Research Institute within the Department of Economics at the University of the West Indies (UWI).

Minister of Finance and the Public Service, Dr. the Hon. Nigel Clarke, made the announcement while opening the 2023/24 Budget Debate in the House of Representatives, on Tuesday (March 7).

“This will be followed by further endowments to establish the Fiscal Research Institute which, we expect, will be financed from the returns on its endowment,” he noted.

Minister Clarke said he intends to secure the private sector’s support in endowing the Chair of the Institute as part of the Government’s initiative, in collaboration with the UWI.

The Fiscal Research Institute will be a non-partisan think tank, engaged in conducting rigorous, high-level research, teaching, and training in public finance and public policy.

It will offer courses in public finance and public financial management at the undergraduate and graduate levels.

The Institute will analyse and inform economic and social policy decisions, particularly those involving public expenditure, taxation, and fiscal sustainability to help policymakers and the general population understand the impact of public choices on individuals, households, firms, and the Government’s financial position.

“While we will always be able to benefit from the advice of our multilateral partners, the Jamaica project becomes unsustainable without increased domestic capacity for public finance management training, analysis, and research,” Dr. Clarke underscored.