News and Updates | Economic Programme Oversight Committee (EPOC)

On The Corner > ‘Talk To Us’ – Swallowfield Residents

They might live in a constituency which has voted People’s National Party since 1989 but the politics will not stop the people of Swallowfield from working with the Jamaica Labour Party to improve their community, but they have one demand – “talk to us”.
That was the message the mostly women from the South East St Andrew community delivered to co-chairman of the Economic Programme Oversight Committee (EPOC), Keith Duncan, when he went ‘On the Corner’ at Annie’s Bar last Thursday.
Duncan was continuing the EPOC scheme of taking details of its work to residents on street corners across the island, and while most of the men listened from a distance the women came prepared to do more than listen.
Well into his presentation of the Government’s economic programme, which has been accepted by the International Monetary Fund, and EPOC’s role of monitoring the implementation of the programme, Duncan pointed to the plan to reform inner-city communities to ensure their sustainable development when he was interrupted with a slew of questions.
“The plan, the measures to reform the inner city and to create amicable places for working and living and all of that, and you said this is a plan for Jamaica. My question is, the places that they are planning to develop, where is the consultation with the people?” said Pamela Munroe.
“This is to be submitted by October 2017. I don’t see anybody consulting with the people. How can you have a plan to impact people like this and there is no consultation?” added Munroe.

CONSULTATION NECESSARY
She argued that consultation with residents of these communities is of absolute necessity, because what was written in books or on papers was not necessarily what residents there wanted.
“There can be no one-size fix for all communities,” declared Munroe, as she argued that while some inner-city communities may require urgent infrastructure development as their first phase, for others it may be other types of development, such as employment for residents.
“So what is written down is not necessarily what people want. I don’t understand how they are going to write something on behalf of us when they don’t know our situation,” declared Munroe.
As Duncan pulled out the document to share the specific details of the programme, Audria Osborne demanded to know how the Government arrived at the proposed plan, as she argued that development recommendations cannot be made behind the backs of the residents.
“You can’t have these kinds of wide-scale development plan without hearing the people’s voices,” argued Osborne.
“What is it that the community is going to contribute? There has to be a buy-in by the community members or it will end up like the downtown (Kingston) bus shed that they spend millions to build and is not being used,” added Osborne.
Duncan was quick to agree with the need for consultation as he noted that this was one reason why EPOC is going to communities.
“You are saying there should be consultation with the people. That’s why we have an ‘On the Corner’ … because the people say they want to be heard, they want to be part of the decision-making process, and that is a good thing,” said Duncan.
[Source: The Jamaica Gleaner]

EPOC proposes analysis of tax revenue performance

KINGSTON, Jamaica (JIS) — Economic Programme Oversight Committee (EPOC) Co-Chairman, Keith Duncan, is proposing that the Government analyse the over-performance in tax revenue inflows recorded for the 2016/17 fiscal year to determine the underlying factors driving this outcome.This, he said, should be done to ensure that this outturn can be sustained over the long term. He posited the suggestion while addressing journalists during EPOC’s quarterly media briefing at the Jamaica Money Market Brokers (JMMB) Group’s head office in New Kingston on Friday, May 19.
Tax revenue inflows last year totalled $458.3 billion to surpass the $440 billion target. This enabled the administration to generate a primary balance surplus of $135.9 billion.
This was $12.9 billion or 7.7 per cent above the minimum seven per cent target of $123 billion for the period, in keeping with target stipulations under the International Monetary Fund’s precautionary three-year Stand By Agreement (SBA).
Additionally, non-borrowed reserves totalled $1.93 billion, to surpass the target of $1.47 billion.
These, along with containment of the rate of inflation, which came in at 4.1 per cent to be within the target range of two to nine per cent, and further reduction in the unemployment rate, which declined by 0.6 per cent to 12.7 per cent in January relative to the corresponding period in 2016, were among the key fiscal and monetary quantitative performance criteria for 2016/17 under the Government’s IMF-supported economic reform programme.
“So Jamaica, from a quantitative perspective, is performing significantly well; the selected fiscal and monetary indicators have been met and surpassed in a significant way. The tax revenue intakes continue to be strong, where the over-performance was driven by improved compliance, higher levels of company profits, and an increased country wage bill reflective of higher levels of employment,” the EPOC Chairman stated.
Duncan said the buoyant revenue inflows were “not surprising”, given recent fiscal developments. These, he noted, include: the shift from direct to indirect taxation; increased macroeconomic stability and economic growth; and increased company profits. He, however, believes there may be other underlying factors.
In this regard, Duncan emphasised that “there needs to be further and deeper analysis done by the Ministry of Finance around these numbers so we really can get to the underlying reasons for the movement and buoyancy (so that), hopefully, this (can) be sustained.”
“We really need to get the handle on it, because we would like to ensure that there is some sustainability to this because this would help us to create room in our fiscal space, going forward,” he added.

EPOC supports gov’t’s management of public bodies surpluses

KINGSTON, Jamaica (JIS) — The Economic Programme Oversight Committee (EPOC) is supporting the proposed reintegration of public bodies generating significant financial surpluses into central Government.The move, which is slated to commence in July with three entities, is among nine new public sector transformation structural benchmarks contained in the revised Memorandum of Economic and Financial Policies underpinning the administration’s precautionary Stand By Agreement (SBA) with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
The initial shortlisted entities are the Tourism Enhancement Fund (TEF); Culture, Health, Arts, Sports and Education (CHASE) Fund; and Jamaica Civil Aviation Authority (JCAA).
Co-Chairman of EPOC, Keith Duncan, says it “makes a lot of sense” to reintegrate the entities, reroute their revenues into the Consolidated Fund and provide them with budgeted allocations for their operations.
“It makes no sense for us to be carrying cash surpluses in so many entities and the Government (has to be) borrowing funds (from) other entities. So the move to integrate these public bodies where applicable or suitable is welcomed by the EPOC,” he added.
He was speaking at EPOC’s quarterly media briefing at the Jamaica Money Market Brokers (JMMB) Group’s head office in New Kingston on Friday.
Meanwhile, Duncan advised that two of the new benchmarks will be monitored by EPOC.
These, he said, are Cabinet submissions for a proposed crisis resolution framework, based on the outcomes of discussions contained in a Consultation Paper, by July 31, 2017; and proposed revision of the Bank of Jamaica (BoJ) Act, in line with IMF recommendations, by August 31, 2017.
Duncan also reiterated the importance of public sector transformation in supporting the Government’s growth agenda.
“The drive to (attaining) an efficient public sector is of primary importance. Getting that wage to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) number down to nine per cent is very important to ensure that we have an efficient allocation of resources,” Duncan underscored.
Meanwhile the EPOC Co-Chairman advised that another benchmark is on course for implementation this month.
This, he indicated, is the institution of mechanisms to ensure full compliance with the provisions of the Securities Retail Repurchase Agreement.
“These regulations require that retail repos be governed by a master retail repurchase agreement that is signed by both the dealer and the client. This is to be completed by May 31 and the Financial Services Commission has indicated that we are on track,” Duncan stated.
[Source: The Jamaica Observer]

EPOC co-chair calls for more diversified economy

http://rjrnewsonline.com/assets/audio/EPOC_Duncan_wants_diverisfied_economy_.mp3
Missed targets in the agricultural sector have led to a revision of growth in Jamaica’s economy.
The targets missed by the sector have been attributed to previous periods of drought.
Speaking at a news briefing on Friday, Keith Duncan, Co-chairman of the Economic Programme Oversight Committee (EPOC), said this points to the need for Jamaica to have a more diverse economy where the focus is not only on a single sector but on several at a time.
He pointed specifically to some of Jamaica’s strategic projects, such as the logistics hub, BPO sector, tourism and foreign direct investments, arguing that if the economy were diverisifed to include all these, there would be a greater chance for growth without the burden on any one industry.
[Source: RJR News Online]

EPOC Co-Chair Hopeful that Capital Expenditure will Increase in the Future

Economic Programme Oversight Committee (EPOC) Co-Chairman, Keith Duncan, is hopeful that Government’s future capital expenditure will increase if the buoyancy in tax and other revenue inflows recorded during the 2016/17 fiscal year continues.
Tax revenue inflows totalled $458.3 billion for the period. This was $18.3 billion more than the targeted $440 billion.
Additionally, non-borrowed reserves amounted to $1.936 billion, some $462 million more than the $1.474 billion targeted for the period.
This resulted in the Government generating a primary balance surplus of $135.9 billion for the 2016/17 fiscal year, which ended on March 31. This was $12.9 billion or 7.7 per cent above the minimum seven per cent target of $123 billion.
Speaking at EPOC’s quarterly briefing at the Jamaica Money Market Brokers (JMMB) Group head office in New Kingston on Friday (May 19), Mr. Duncan said Government’s overall expenditure totalled $503.4 billion. This, he noted, was $5 billion below the target of $508.3 billion.
He indicated that capital expenditure from this sum totalled $42 billion, which was $2.8 billion or 6.4 per cent less than budgeted.
Mr. Duncan said while the administration was able to close the gap during the last quarter of 2016/17, “we still lagged behind the budgetary expenditure.”
He emphasized that inadequacies in infrastructure such as drains that result in flooding, as was evident with the torrential rains that have lashed the island over the past several days, could significantly impact Jamaica over the long term.
“We know that capital expenditure is where we really need to increase the spend in order to ensure that we can stimulate growth through this line item,” Mr. Duncan stated
In this regard, he expressed the hope that “if the buoyancy in the tax revenues continues, (then) the capital expenditure that was budgeted (this year) would increase significantly over the next budget (and) we will have even more fiscal space so that we can really invest in the infrastructure and social services in our country.”
[Source: JIS]