Jamaica
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Challenges on the horizon says analyst
KINGSTON, Jamaica, CMC – Ahead of Thursday’s presentation of the 2013/2013 Budget Debate, a local financial analyst is warning of major challenges on the horizon . With the Budget being tabled against the background of a not yet signed deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), financial analyst, Dennis Chung, believes it will be difficult for the Government to meet…
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Big squeeze – Budget demands tighter spending
KINGSTON, Jamaica – Most government ministries and departments will have to survive with less money this fiscal year as Finance Minister Dr Peter Phillips has kept his word and dramatically tightened the Government's spending plans. Phillips yesterday tabled a spending plan for the 2013-2014 fiscal year which reflects huge savings on interest payments and debt repayment but still leaves ministries…
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Government to focus growth and development
KINGSTON, Jamaica, CMC – Governor General Sir Patrick Allen says the divestment of Public Sector assets and a major infrastructural project will be some of the areas of focus by the Portia Simpson Miller administration in this legislative year. “Through a managed privatisation process, the Government intends to make a renewed effort to dispose of some Public Sector assets to…
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Cutting the fat – Finance minister to present tight Budget today
KINGSTON, Jamaica – Jamaicans will know today just how much the Government plans to spend during this fiscal year but already some financial analysts are warning the country to brace for a tight budget. “It is not going to be a budget of goodies,” financial analyst Colin Bullock told The Gleaner. “The country is in a very serious situation now…
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Private sector groups worried at slide in local currency
KINGSTON, Jamaica, CMC – Two private sector organisations are warning that the Jamaican economy is nearing crisis level amid concerns of a rapid slide in the local currency. At the end of trading on Tuesday, the US dollar was being sold at a record J$99.08. At the start of the year, the US dollar was trading just above the J$93…
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Government plans to reduce food import bill by US$300 million
KINGSTON, Jamaica, CMC – The Jamaica government says it intends to significantly reduce the island’s food import bill, which stands at a staggering one billion (US) dollars. Agriculture and Fisheries Minister Roger Clarke said the intention is to reduce the bill to US$700 in the short to medium term.“We have targeted some 8,000 acres of government lands that we intend…
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EDITORIAL – Arms control and America’s moral obligation
KINGSTON, Jamaica – This newspaper, as a matter of principle, welcomes this week's passage by the United Nations (UN) General Assembly of the long-awaited UN treaty on trade in arms. We would have preferred a more robust document, with specific language against the transfer of weapons to non-state actors, and would have liked the treaty to apply also to domestic…
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Government seeking to get unions agreement on wage freeze
KINGSTON, Jamaica, CMC – The Jamaica government says it is continuing efforts for a wage restraint agreement within the public service, but not all unions have bought into the initiative which is seen as important to sealing a deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Public Utilities Minister Horrace Dalley, said the three-year agreement, which was signed last month, will…
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Jamaicans to know size of 2013/14 budget April 4
KINGSTON, Jamaica – Jamaicans will know what the Government intends to spend during the 2013/14 financial year on April 4, when Finance Minister Dr Peter Phillips tables the Estimates of Expenditure for that year in the House. Tabling of the Estimates will follow the State Opening of Parliament, when Governor-General Sir Patrick Allen will deliver the Throne Speech outlining the…
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IMF, World Bank not doing enough for debtor countries
KINGSTON, Jamaica – IN recent years, the small states of the Caribbean have experienced low rates of economic growth, with the last rapid growth spurt in the 1980s that was fuelled mainly by expansion of tourism, banana exports and public investments. The slowdown that started in the 1990s was triggered by the loss of trade preferences for sugar and bananas,…
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