Building a Better Jamaica

Continues Call for Lower Interest Rates and Fees
KINGSTON (JIS)
Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Minister of Finance and the Public Service, Hon. Audley Shaw, has charged commercial banks to be the driving force behind the growth of the entrepreneurial sector.

Minister Shaw noted during a press conference at the Ministry in Kingston, on August 27, that small businesses want to invest, but the commercial banking sector "has to be the mainframe behind how we can get that investment going."

Mr. Trevor Alleyne, head of the IMF mission to Jamaica, has issued the following statement
Saturday, August 28, 2010
Jamaica Information Service

"An IMF team visited Kingston during August 18-27 to conduct the second review of the economic programme under the Stand-By Arrangement (SBA) approved by the Fund's Executive Board on February 4, 2010.

KINGSTON (JIS)
Friday, August 27, 2010

Jamaica has again met the performance targets under the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) Stand-By Arrangement (SBA), the Fund's Mission Chief to Jamaica, Dr. Trevor Alleyne, announced Friday (August 27).

Speaking at a press conference at the Ministry of Finance and the Public Service, at Heroes Circle in Kingston, Dr. Alleyne, revealed that at the end of June performance targets were met.

Published: Saturday | August 28, 2010
Jamaica Gleaner Arthur Hall, Senior Staff Reporter

Jamaica has aced the second International Monetary Fund (IMF) quarterly test despite unplanned expenditure related to the west Kingston incursion and emergency spending in the health sector.

Local officials have been forced to tweak the Letter of Intent with the IMF to reflect the additional spending.

Monday, August 09, 2010
Jamaica Information Service

The Hon. Audley Shaw, Minister of Finance and Public Service of Jamaica, and Inter-American Development Bank President, Luis Alberto Moreno, signed today a US$ 200 million loan for a fiscal consolidation program.

KINGSTON (JIS):
Thursday, August 05, 2010

The Ministry of Finance and the Public Service has announced that it is reviewing the tax waiver/incentive regime, to formulate a new Tax Waiver/Incentive Policy and Strategy that is in line with the country's developmental goals.

The new Tax Waiver/Incentive Policy and Strategy will be formulated by the end of December, but the Ministry issued a release Friday (August 5) which stated:

Pending consideration and adoption of the new Tax Waiver/Incentive Policy and Strategy, the Government has approved the following:

Friday, May 21, 2010
Jamaica Gleaner

Jamaica is pressing ahead with its vision to become a centre for international financial services.

Minister of Industry, Investment and Commerce Karl Samuda says that a draft bill to establish a statutory body for the development and promotion of the country in that way has been referred to the Attorney-General for legal opinion.

He said it was hoped that the Bill would be passed during the first quarter of the 2010/11 fiscal year.

Minister of Finance and the Public Service, Hon. Audley Shaw

Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Jamaica Observer

THE Standing Finance Committee of Parliament will today begin the gruelling task of digging into the Government's 2010/11 Estimates of Expenditure, which was tabled last week.

The new $499.4-billion budget is $100 billion less than the $593 billion spent in the 2009/10 fiscal year.

Published: Tuesday | March 30, 2010
Jamaica Gleaner

GOVERNMENT HAS apparently backtracked on its promise to pay an increased percentage of the year-old special fuel tax to the Road Maintenance Fund.

Figures contained in the 2010-2011 Estimates of Expenditure indicate that the Government plans to use less of the fuel tax on roads than it did last year.

Finance Minister Audley Shaw, in announcing the cess last April, had said 20 per cent of the $8.75 tax would go to the Road Maintenance Fund to be used for the repair and upgrade of roads and structures.