Windalco Bauxite Levy Relief Will Save Jobs  

• The Government has agreed to provide Windalco with a two-year relief from the payment of the bauxite production levy, which will save the jobs of hundreds of Jamaicans. Jamaica will forego an estimated US$10 million in levy payments from the company over the period.
• Minister of Finance and the Public Service, Dr. the Hon. Nigel Clarke, made the announcement during a statement to the House of Representatives on July 19. He highlighted that the waiver is about jobs and foreign exchange, whereby the plant would close and relatively high-paying jobs would be lost if this waiver is not granted.  Windalco currently employs 600 persons directly and 1,187 others indirectly.
• Windalco has committed to producing alumina in terms of volume, at a level that is 10 per cent higher than what was produced in 2022. During this period, the government will seek to revise the bauxite production levy regime to make Jamaica more competitive in this industry.
• This 2-yr waiver will allow Windalco the latitude it will need to put in place the systems to make their business viable. In the past few years, the company has been faced with serious challenges including an extremely high cost for producing alumina, coupled with the “very uncompetitive” cost for the product on the world market, and as such Windalco has experienced losses.
• The Government has made commitments to ensure that a payment schedule is developed for all outstanding amounts owed by Windalco for bauxite levy accruing from previous periods. However, this levy relief could impair government revenues over the next two years. 

(Source: JIS)