Author: Suzell Wray

At the end of each month, the fiscal data on revenues and expenditures are uploaded to the Ministry of Finance’s website which is open and accessible to the public.

Minister of Finance and the Public Service, Dr. the Honourable Nigel Clarke, has invited stakeholders of the horse racing industry together for a face to face meeting on Thursday, May 2 to discuss recent developments.

Today, the University Allied and Workers Union, the Jamaica Federation of Corrections, and the Senior Uniformed Officers Association, all of whom represent correctional officers, met with Minister of Finance and the Public Service Dr. the Hon. Nigel Clarke, Minister of National Security and Deputy Prime Minister Hon. Dr. Horace Chang, Minister of State in the Ministry of Finance and the Public Service Hon. Zavia Mayne and Minister of State in the Ministry of National Security Hon. Juliet Cuthbert and technocrats from both ministries.

Dr. Ama Eyo, Senior Law Lecturer at Bangor University is calling for more sustainable procurement practices that shun corruption, bribery and collusion. She was delivering a lecture on Day 3 of the Elevate Procurement Conference at the Montego Bay Convention Centre on Thursday, April 25, 2024.

Philippe Pelletier, Legal Affairs Officer at the World Trade Organization (WTO) has announced that USD 1.7 Trillion in value of the market access is available annually under the WTO Government Procurement Agreement (GPA). He was speaking during the second day of the Elevate Procurement Conference which is being held at the Montego Bay Convention Centre from April 23-25, 2024.

Public and private sector entities are being urged to foster an attitude of collaboration and partnership ahead of the revolutionary changes being made to the public procurement process in Jamaica. The call came during the opening ceremony of the Elevate Procurement Conference held at the Montego Bay Convention Centre on Tuesday, April 23, 2024.

The Government of Jamaica (GOJ), the Development Bank of Jamaica, the Green Climate Fund (GCF), Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the World Bank Group, European Investment Bank as part of Team Europe, USAID, and the United Kingdom, are discussing a framework to establish a ‘Blue Green Facility’ –a blended financing structure–of up to USD 500 million over five years, which would include a contribution from the Government of Jamaica. Such a programmatic approach will help catalyze climate finance by introducing systematic, coherent, and scalable approaches towards adaptation and mitigation needs.

The fraud at Stocks and Securities Limited (“SSL”) is of public interest. The Financial Investigation Division has reported that the fraudulent schemes are now estimated to have
affected over 200 accounts and the extent of the fraud exceeds $3 billion in value.

The Ministry of Finance and the Public Service is set to extend its 2024 National Budget Secondary School Tour to schools in St. Catherine in the second staging of the initiative. The tour was officially launched at the St. Catherine High School with participation from students from St. Jago High School on Tuesday, April 9, 2024.

Fitch Ratings Agency, today, March 5, 2024, upgraded Jamaica’s Long-Term Foreign-Currency Issuer Default Rating (IDR) to ‘BB-’, with the outlook remaining “Positive”.