GOJ in black with $6b collection

Government of Jamaica collected $6 billion in the category divestments/other that was not a budgeted item, resulting in surplus of $4.5 billion in February. The big one item intake lowered the fiscal deficit to $32.5 billion for the 11 months to February versus $38.5 budgeted.
The Primary surplus ended at $3.5 billion below budget at $80 billion down from $83.5 originally planned, but the difference may be accounted for by the reduction in the target agreed by the IMF.
Elsewhere a $3 billion increase on income and profit tax above budget to February this year, helped the government to meet the deficit target set for the elven months of the fiscal year that ends in March. While the income and profits tax were ahead of target, taxes on production and consumption and on imports delivered $1.5 billion less than targeted and bauxite levy was down by $2.4 billion, no doubt caught up in the dispute and bankruptcy proceedings with Miranda Bauxite Company. Grants were also off by $3 billion from the amount budgeted.
The capital budgeted expenditure that is usually underspent in past years has been fully used up to the end of February but the government incurred less on debt servicing with lower interest cost of $3 billion for the elven months period.
The month with the largest inflows of funds, March is yet to be fully compiled and not yet released. Those numbers will be important for the government going into the new fiscal year, as it would indicate what is the likely capacity for increased spending, for the year ahead. What is known is that interest cost should fall in the year as Treasury bill rates to which a large portion of the national debt is tied have been declining and this should lead to lower cost in this area.