Industry Minister Wants More MSMEs Listed on JSE Junior Market

• Minister of Industry, Investment and Commerce, Senator the Hon. Aubyn Hill, wants to see more micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) listed on the Junior Market of the Jamaica Stock Exchange this year.
• He urged MSMEs to take advantage of the recent amendment of the Income Tax Act, which allows companies to raise up to $750Mn during an initial public offering, an increase of $250Mn. Senator Hill, who was addressing Wednesday’s (January 15) post-Cabinet press briefing at Jamaica House, reasoned that the aim is to build companies that can compete not just in Jamaica but regionally and internationally.
• “Two of our biggest companies have big companies in the United States – Grace and Jamaica Broilers Group. More than 50 percent of Jamaica Broilers Group’s income comes not from Jamaica but from the United States, where they own a lot of companies,” he said. Senator Hill shared that trade data show that between 1960 and 2021, negative trade balances were recorded in 60 of the 61 years.
• “Unless we go and find new markets for our products and services and new markets for investments to come into Jamaica, we’re not going to be the rich country that we have to be,” he said.
• The 48 companies currently listed on the Junior Market benefit from a range of tax incentives that include conditional relief from income tax payments, exemption from transfer tax and stamp duty on transfer of shares. The Junior Market had a market capitalisation of J$148.5Bn as at the end of December 2024, having started with J$785.0Mn in 2009.

(Source: JIS)