Gov’t Providing $2 Billion To Assist Persons Most Impacted By High Gas And Energy Prices

The Government is making a special provision, in the amount of $2 billion, to provide targeted support to Jamaicans who are most adversely affected and have the least ability to absorb the impact of high gas and energy prices.

Finance and the Public Service Minister, Dr. the Hon. Nigel Clarke, made the announcement as he opened the 2022/23 Budget Debate in the House of Representatives on Tuesday (March 8).

He said that more details will be provided after discussions with relevant stakeholders.

“I can easily see some of it being used to provide some relief to taxi operators, who have fixed fares, and some being used for children on the Programme of Advancement Through

Health and Education (PATH), who have transportation costs, and so forth. But we will come back with greater detail as to how we are going to allocate it because we want to listen to stakeholders… to optimise the best way of allocating,” Dr. Clarke said.

The Finance Minister pointed out that a major source of Jamaica’s oil import bill is for petroleum used by cars, noting that technology exists today that allows the country to reduce that dependence and the operating cost for consumers.

Dr. Clarke said that electric vehicles cost one-third of what it takes to fuel a petroleum-powered vehicle.

“If it takes $10,000 to fill a car with petrol, it will cost $3,000 if the car was powered by electricity,” he pointed out.

Dr. Clarke said it is for this reason that the Government intends to incentivise the purchase of electric vehicles by reducing the import duty from 30 per cent to 10 per cent, for an initial five-year period and exempting the annual registration fees on battery electric vehicles.

He noted that the measure will be executed in the first quarter of financial year 2022/2023 and further details will be provided on its implementation.

Meanwhile, Dr. Clarke said that the Government will not be introducing any new taxes to fund the $912-billion Budget for 2022/23.

“We are prioritising economic recovery, which we want to achieve in the quickest possible time. Increasing taxes at this time would run counter to that objective. This is the seventh consecutive fiscal year where, on a net basis, we have not raised taxes and the fifth consecutive fiscal year where there will be absolutely no new taxes,” he pointed out.