(Jamaica Gleaner) Investment promotions agency, JAMPRO, has announced the signing of a memorandum of understanding with American Global MD (AGMD) for the country’s first ‘five-star’ medical tourism facility valued at US$170 million. John Marcocchio, the local project manager and director of Implementation Limited, said Thursday that the project is likely to break ground in 12 to 18 months after design is completed and construction approvals have been received.

KINGSTON, Jamaica, Gleaner - This newspaper endorses the suggestion by the Caribbean Tourism Organisation (CTO) that Caribbean Community (CARICOM) member states introduce a visa regime similar to the Schengen visa of some European Union members. The system would allow seamless travel by visitors across the Community after clearing immigration/customs at their initial port of entry. Such a system was in place for the 2007 Cricket World Cup, but lapsed thereafter.

KINGSTON, Jamaica, Observer - WE have a sense that the Government's version of JDX, being called the National Debt Exchange Offer, is a smart way to squeeze $17 billion annually out of the system, without sending the nation into panic. We will return to this tomorrow in this space. But at the same, we also have the sense that Monday night's national broadcast by Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller and Finance Minister Dr Peter Phillips, which announced the JDX 2, has to be followed soon by a deeper effort to mobilise the nation around resolving our debt issue and raising revenues.

KINGSTON, Jamaica, Observer - ELIMINATING discretionary waivers altogether could return $4 billion in revenue to the Government. But the tax breaks, which are approved after applications are considered by the finance ministry, mostly go to charitable organisations, while public sector bodies and government contracts take up a significant portion of the rest. What's more, with a targeted primary surplus of 7.5 per cent of GDP, or approximately $100 billion next fiscal year, the possible savings hardly dent a $20 billion to $40 billion shortfall.

KINGSTON, Jamaica, Observer -THE Jamaica Exporters' Association (JEA) is breathing a sign of relief in the face of planned fiscal cuts by the Government.
The association said it has been assured that statutory incentives to its members will remain intact though the Government continues to grapple with fiscal consolidation.

"The obligations that the Government has already put in place will not be broken, however, discretionary incentives will come under greater scrutiny in an effort to ensure transparency," the association reported.