The Civil Service Week Public Forum 2021

Standard and Poor’s (S&P) Global Ratings, today, September 25, 2025, upgraded Jamaica’s long-term foreign and local currency sovereign credit ratings from ‘BB-‘ to BB,’ while its outlook remains “Positive”.

I note with much regret the pre-dated media release of August 14, 2025 shared by the Jamaica Teachers’ Association (JTA) today (August 15, 2025). While it is disappointing that the members of the JTA’s leadership choose not to continue the discussions at today’s meeting that they demanded, the Ministry of Finance and the Public Service (MoFPS) remains committed to the matter of Wage and Fringe Benefits negotiations.

The Ministry of Finance and the Public Service welcomes Jamaica’s invitation to participate in the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) “FSRB Jurisdictions Guest Initiative.” This prestigious invitation was extended by FATF President Ms. Elisa de Anda Madrazo and will allow Jamaica to sit at the FATF table under its own flag and contribute to the organisation’s key policy discussions and working groups over the course of one year.

Minister of Finance and the Public Service, Hon. Fayval Williams, has today advised that the movement of up to three (3) increments in the substantive salary scales for all eligible public sector workers will amount to an increase in basic salary of approximately 7.5% for most public sector workers. She has contrasted this agreement with the norm before the comprehensive salary reform of 2022, in which only one (1) increment would be made in a year, and such a move was also tied to receiving 75% or more on the Performance Management and Appraisal System (PMAS).