Jamaica Government fiscal

Fiscal surplus for Jamaican Government

June 8, 2021 by IC Insider.com

Revenues for the Jamaican Government rocketed sharply in April, this year over inflows in 2020 and 2019 and was up above the 2021 forecast by $3.4 billion to $75 billion to exceed the forecast of $72 billion.

Dr. Nigel Clarke, Jamaica’s Minister of Finance

The improvement saw most categories of revenues beating the budget, with taxes collected from Income and profits delivering $1.1 billion more than budget, with all categories performing above budget. The production and consumption category delivered a $1 billion increase and Production and consumption taxes contributed $1.3 billion more in revenues.
Government’s fiscal operations ended with a surplus of $12 billion for the month compared to a budgeted forecast of $5.2 billion, the results of the increase in revenues and a $3.4 billion fall in spending below budget.
Recurrent expenditure accounted for $56 billion of total expenditure, compared to forecast of $59 billion and capital expenditure fell just $326 million short of forecast to end at $7.7 billion. Salaries and wages consumed $692 million less than was budgeted for and programmes (recurrent expenditure excluding wages, interest and capital spending) saw $2.7 billion less spent than the budgeted $25.3 billion with outflows of $22.6 billion.
The government borrowed nearly a billion less than projected, with an intake of $14.6 billion compared to forecast of $15.5 billion and paid back $5.35 billion versus $4.6 billion projected.
The primary surplus jumped from $16 billion to $21.3 billion at the end of the first month of the fiscal year.

Filed Under: Economy Tagged With: Emerging markets, Jamaica Government fiscal

More taxes less cost keep GOJ in black

August 18, 2019 by IC Insider.com

Nigel Clarke, Jamaica’s Minister of Finance

Data put out by Jamaica’s Ministry of Finance shows the government’s operating at a surplus with increased taxes and major cost reductions in two critical areas.
Information for the June quarter shows a surplus of $6.5 billion for the quarter against a planned deficit of a mere $58 million. Helping in achieving the positive outturn was near $4 billion in lower interest payments and the increased taxes and reduced expenditure of $3.6 billion on other areas of government operations. Capital expenditure saw $1.5 billion more spent than budget, while grants pulled in $3 billion less than planned.
Tax revenues brought in $128.7 billion, up 3.3 percent over budget and revenues from PAYE grew just one percent above budget, at $14.4 billion. Motor Vehicle license rose 7.7 percent above budget to reach $1 billion. GCT on local goods and services slipped 2.3 percent below budget to end at $24 billion but is up strongly on the total take for the 2018 first quarter. GCT on imports of $20.4 billion rose 2.7 percent above budget. Travel tax climbed 10.3 percent to $5 billion while betting, gaming and lottery taxes pulled in 28.6 percent more than in 2018 with $1.26 billion coming in for the June 2019 period.
The improvement is a continuation of healthy tax inflows for a number of years and is a sign of continued economic growth for the country.

Filed Under: Economy, Feature Stories Tagged With: GCT, Government revenues, Jamaica Government, Jamaica Government fiscal, Ministry of Finance, Nigel Clarke

GOJ rakes in $4 billion more taxes

August 2, 2018 by IC Insider.com

Jamaica’s Ministry of Finance newest office building

Government of Jamaica’s fiscal operations continue to perform above target with tax revenues to June rising $4 billion above forecast to $128 billion versus projection of $124.6 billion and expenditure falling $6 billion below forecast.
At the end of the quarter, the central government operations delivered a surplus of $6.5 billion with May and June enjoying surpluses of $4 billion and $8 billion respectively, but April suffered a deficit of $5.7 billion.
Expenditure fell $6 billion below the $128 billion projected. Interest cost ended at $25 billion or nearly $4 billion lower than planned and expenditure other than wages, came in at $3.6 billion lighter than the $48.6 budgeted. Grants received, fell $3 billion below forecast of $4 billion. The primary surplus set to end at $28.5 billion, ended instead at $31.34 billion.
Income tax collections bettered forecast by $3 billion, to reach $46 billion, while consumption taxes, rose nearly $2 billion above forecast.

Filed Under: Economy Tagged With: Jamaica Government fiscal

Surplus in 4 months to July

September 4, 2017 by IC Insider.com

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Central government of Jamaica’s fiscal operations, rack up a tidy surplus, in contrast to a sizeable deficit budgeted to July this year, data on the government’s operations, recently released show.
This development is unusual at this time of the year when deficits are usually racked up until the last fiscal quarter, the period when surplus revenues are generated.
The surplus was helped by an $11.4 billion in capital inflows showing up as divestment proceeds/other and is boosted by a near $6 billion increase in recurring revenues over forecast and a $7 billion underspending thus ensuring a healthy surplus for the 4 months period amounting to $5.4 billion, against a budgeted deficit of $7 billion. The critical primary surplus a major benchmark of the IMF agreement rest, ended at $38.6 billion versus $29 billion planned.
Also contributing to the positive outcome was a cut in non-payroll expenditure of $6 billion, reduced interest cost of $3.2 billion and positive tax revenues of $5.4 billion. Corporate taxes rose 34 percent above forecast adding $3.3 billion more than the $10 billion planned but corporations are not paying over tax withheld on dividend with only $386 million being paid versus projection of $506 million. Special Consumption Taxes on import fell $2.8 billion while the tax on local production rose by $3.5 billion, from forecast and travel taxes providing $1 billion more than planned.

Filed Under: Economy, Feature Stories Tagged With: GOJ, Government revenues, IMF, Jamaica Government fiscal

GOJ runs at surplus for fiscal Q1

July 31, 2017 by IC Insider.com

Minister of Finance Audley Shaw carried on from where Phillips left off.

An increase of $7.76 billion in revenues and grants and $1.5 billion fall in expense payments resulted in Government of Jamaica running the country’s finances at a surplus for the 3 months to June, this year.
The surplus of $1.6 billion is $9.3 billion better than the deficit projected at $7.67 billion.
The cost of interest fell $3 billion below forecast to end at $29 billion versus projections of $32 billion. Company profit tax delivered $2.76 billion more revenue than the $8.4 billion forecasted but PAYE brought in $952 million less than the $13.9 billion budgeted. Production and consumption taxes brought in $4.3 billion more than the $41.4 billion planned but imports delivered $478 million less than the $43.96 billion projected, due mainly to a drop of $2.5 billion in Special Consumption tax.
The primary surplus set at $24.4 billion is now at $30.6 billion. Although, the fiscal is running at a surplus ahead of forecast the government borrowed $5.5 billion more than planned and pay back $6 billion less than originally projected.

Filed Under: Economy, Feature Stories Tagged With: Audley Shaw, Jamaica Government fiscal, PAYE, Special Consumption Tax

GOJ income falls but fiscal on track

February 5, 2015 by IC Insider.com

The Jamaican government is on track to achieve their primary surplus target with the December data showing only half a billion positive balance over the budgeted target level, but that is well down on $6.2 billion excess achieved for the period to November.
The primary surplus at the end of December comes out at $66.5 billion and is up from November’s surplus of $54.4 billion. The excess over forecast was achieved although revenues are off by $10 billion, or more than $3 billion worse than the $6.8 billion at the end of November. Tax revenues fell short by $9.7 billion to November as economic measures bite, but non tax revenue was better than forecast by $2 billion and grants were off by $3 billion.
Tax on interest brought in $1.5 billion in revenue over budget and was up by 39 percent, PAYE rose by 4 percent or $2 billion to $49.9 billion. The shortfalls were mostly local GCT down by $5.4 billion or 10.6 percent to $5.5 billion. Corporation tax fell short by $6.6 billion or 30 percent, Special consumption tax dropped $1.7 billion or 19 percent
The wage bill that was on target to November shows $1.76 billion in savings to December, as government spent $121 billion on this item, interest cost is down by $4.5 billion to $95 billion and other cost fell by $671 million. Capital expenditure, underspent by $7.4 billion to November is now $8.3 billion below forecast or 31 percent reduction.
The fiscal deficit targeted at $33.87 billion is down by $5 billion to $28.9 billion thanks to cut in scheduled payments.

Filed Under: Breaking News, Economy, Feature Stories Tagged With: Corporation tax, GCT, GOJ, Government revenues, Jamaica Government fiscal, PAYE

GOJ Tax revenues on target

September 4, 2014 by IC Insider.com

Jamaican government’s tax revenues, were on target for the first 4 months of the 2014/15 fiscal year, coming in just $611 million short of the target of $112.23 billion.
Only $609 million was collected in grants, as this category fell nearly $3 billion short of target. Overall, total collections, amounted to $121.8 billion, short by $2.6 billion for the period. For the similar period in 2013 inflows amounted to $118.7 billion.
Expenditure fell by a much larger amount than inflows, at $7.7 billion to end at $139.7 billion. Lesser amounts than budgeted were paid out for wages, interest, general and capital expenditures. Government only paid $7.8 billion on the capital side, versus $12 billion budgeted. Reductions of payments were, $737 million for general expenses, wages $1.2 billion and interest $1.6 billion.
The fiscal deficit, improved by $5 billion over target, to reach $18 billion, while the primary surplus was $3.6 billion better than planned. At the same time last year, the deficit was only $5.7 billion and the primary surplus $25 billion or $4.7 billion ahead of target.