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. ...
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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 do...
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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-st...
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Ja must prepare for a major earthquake - US expert

KINGSTON, Jamaica - United States seismic expert Professor Eric Calais has called for Jamaicans to put in place long-term strategies to prepare for another major earthquake on the island. An article published Monday by the Claims Journal website noted that based on the area's history and active...
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Jamaica looking to further develop hydro power sector

sector KINGSTON, Jamaica, CMC – The Italian consulting firm, SP Studio Pietrangeli will undertake a J$109 million (US$ One Jamaica dollar = US$0.01 cents) feasibility study on five potential hydro power sites across the island. The Ministry of Energy says it will partner with the Petroleum Co...
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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 trig...
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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, wh...
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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 ...
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Caribbean nations search for offshore oil amid spill fears

KINGSTON, Jamaica (AP) - The turquoise waters that have long brought treasure seekers to the Caribbean now are drawing a new kind of explorer as countries across the region increasingly open their seas to oil exploration. From the Bahamas and Cuba down to Aruba and Suriname, international oil compa...
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Trust deficit: Gov’t, IMF and Haiti

KINGSTON, Jamaica - Call me Thomas if you wish, but on this Easter Sunday, what is being resurrected for me is a deep distrust for those who are elected and appointed to govern us. Despite being full of 'knowledge' based on blind faith that Jesus is coming again as a thief in the night, I a...
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