House Approves Suspension Of Fiscal Rules

• The House of Representatives, on Tuesday (June 2), approved the Fiscal Administration and Audit (Suspension of Fiscal Target Requirements) Order, 2020, to suspend Jamaica’s fiscal rules until March 2021 as a result of the economic impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
• Minister of Finance and the Public Service, Dr. the Hon. Nigel Clarke noted that the COVID-19 pandemic has led to the triggering and activation of the suspension of the provisions of the fiscal responsibility framework.
• This, as the crisis has led to the need to deploy significant additional fiscal resources, primarily in the form of social and economic support through the COVID Allocation of Resources for Employees (CARE) Programme, and health expenditures for new personnel, equipment and supplies, as well as other critical expenditures.
• Dr. Clarke said the suspension of the fiscal rules will allow the Government to target a lower primary surplus of three and one-half per cent of GDP this fiscal year, down from 5.4 per cent. “This will allow us to accommodate the COVID-19 response expenditures in light of the reduced revenue that we are likely to experience. After the suspension has expired, the Government will be required to implement recovery mechanisms,” Dr. Clarke said.

(Source: JIS)