Effective January 25, 2013 the Bank of Jamaica (BOJ) will be lowering the interest rate payable on its 30-day Certificates of Deposit from 6.25% to 5.75% per annum.

The Government has extended the National Debt Exchange (NDX) programme by a week to give more bondholders time to take up the offer.

National Commercial Bank Jamaica Limited has advised that the acquisition of Advantage General Insurance Company Limited has now been completed.

Mr. Jan Kees Martijn, Head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) mission to Jamaica, issued the following statement today in Kingston:

In keeping with the Government’s objective to improve the fiscal account and to achieve its primary surplus balance target 7.5%, a series of tax measures were tabled on February 12. The package is expected to raise an additional $15.9Bn during fiscal year 2013/14 and also follows from last year’s $19.38Bn package.

The air of market uncertainty around whether or not there would be another debt restructuring was dispelled with last evening’s update on the IMF negotiations from the Prime Minister and the Minister of Finance. In order to signoff on the long awaited agreement and gain access to an Extended Fund Facility, the government must take certain prior actions. These prior actions include the elimination of discretionary waivers, initiate changes to bring the wage to GDP ratio to 9% by 2015/16, and the most significant initiative, a debt restructuring that will assist in bringing the country’s debt to sustainable levels. With respect to the latter, the Prime Minister announced the launch of a National Debt Exchange (NDX).

 Click here to read more: National Debt Exchange 2013

The Board of Directors of National Commercial Bank Jamaica Limited (NCBJ) will consider a dividend payment at a meeting to be held on Thursday February 14, 2013.

The Board of Directors of Carreras Limited has declared an interim dividend of $1.40 per share and a special dividend of $1.20 per share payable on March 13, 2013 to shareholders on record as at February 21, 2013. The ex-dividend date is February 19, 2013.

For the fiscal year to November, Central Government recorded a fiscal deficit of $48.27Bn which exceeded the budgeted amount by $2.07Bn. The primary surplus was $31.30Bn or $6.11Bn less than budgeted.

During the January – September 2012 period, the current account deficit narrowed by US$119.7Mn to US$1,280.8Mn when compared to the corresponding 2011 period. The improvement in the current account resulted from all sub-accounts, with the exception of the services account.