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jamaica-country

Government To Send Home Retirement-Age Teachers

KINGSTON, Jamaica, Gleaner - TEACHERS WHO have reached the retirement age but who are still working in the public sector in that capacity are to be sent home as part of Jamaica's agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Schools employing teachers who are beyond the retirement age are to be notified that they must regularise by September, Jamaica has indicated in its commitment to the multilateral. The plan was included in a ministry paper tabled in the House of Representatives yesterday, which includes the letter of intent governing the agreement.

‘We’re Serious About This’ - IMF Programme Oversight Committee Co-Chair Says Team Is Committed To Ensure Success

KINGSTON, Jamaica, Gleaner - Richard Byles, the co-chair of the oversight committee which has been established to monitor the implementation of Jamaica's programme with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), says the team assembled is not for window dressing. "I am a serious business person. I am not there to do anybody's bidding, and everybody that I have heard named to the committee, they are serious people too," Byles told The Gleaner yesterday.

IMF deal now sealed

KINGSTON, Jamaica, Observer - JAMAICA will get nearly US$2 billion in loans over the next four years from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) under the Extended Fund Facility approved by the IMF yesterday. Nearly US$1 billion in funding from the IMF, starting with an almost immediate drawdown of US$207 million, will complement just over US$1 billion in funding from both the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank, bringing the total loan package to nearly US$2 billion.

JAMAICA-BUDGET-UWI principal to chair task force on logistics hub initiative

KINGSTON, Jamaica, CMC – The Jamaica government has named the Principal of the Mona Campus of the University of the West Indies (UWI), Professor Gordon Shirley, to head a National Task Force (NTF) that will coordinate the critical infrastructural and labour factors regarding the logistics hub initiative. Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller’s government has said that the initiative, which is intended to have Jamaica take advantage of the increase in the movement of goods when the expanded Panama Canal opens in 2015, is a major plank of its overall growth strategy.

JAMAICA-BUDGET-Reactions to PM budget presentation

KINGSTON, Jamaica, CMC - Leader of the main opposition Jamaica Labour Party (JLP), Andrew Holness has praised Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller for what he says is a level of maturity in promising to consider suggestions from the opposition concerning the 2013/2014 budget. During her contribution to the debate on the J$531 billion (One Jamaica dollar = US$0.01 cents) budget on Tuesday, Prime Minister Simpson Miller said in the interest of democracy, her administration has welcomed all suggestions placed on the table by Holness, the former prime minister.

JAMAICA-ECONOMY-IMF approves new facility for Jamaica

WASHINGTON, CMC – The International Monetary Fund (IMF) Wednesday said it had approved US$932.3 million loan under its Extended Fund Facility (EFF) for Jamaica. The four-year EFF will support the Jamaica government’s comprehensive economic reform agenda and forms a critical part of a total funding package of two billion US dollars from Jamaica’s multilateral partners including the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), with each having preliminarily agreed to allocate US$510 million over the next four years.

A chance to combat the illegal arms trade

KINGSTON, Jamaica - Any legal measure implemented by local and foreign law enforcement agencies to combat the drug trade is welcomed by this newspaper.
For we are resolute in our belief that the trafficking of narcotics is a most abominable crime for which those found guilty must feel the full weight of the law.

Simpson Miller makes Budget presentation today

today KINGSTON, Jamaica - Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller will make her contribution to the 2013/2014 Budget Debate today.
Simpson Miller will make her presentation in Gordon House, on the heels of the Opposition Monday saying that Jamaicans can expect the speech to be filled with “fluff” and “rhetoric”.

Tourism boom - 1.6 million air seats sold for summer

KINGSTON, Jamaica - Jamaica has secured 1.6 million air seats into the island this summer, with the bulk coming from the United States — the island's major market — even as the country continues to woo visitors from the non-traditional areas of Eastern Europe and Latin America.
This is welcome news for the many tourism interests now gathered in Montego Bay for the 21st staging of the island's premiere trade show, Jamaica Product Exchange (JAPEX), at the Montego Bay Convention Centre.