Wednesday, May 18, 2016

Richard Byles reckons that the country could face more belt tightening measures to support a $25-billion gap in budget come next March aided by the increase in income tax threshold.

Looking closer to home, Byles, Co-chair of the Economic Programme Oversight Committee (EPOC), is optimistic that Jamaica will pass the 11th and 12th review under the IMF Reform Programme later this month, having comfortably met the IMF target of US$1.544 million for Net International Reserves (NIR) and $120.7billion in primary balance as at March.

Byles, however, expressed concerns about the funding of $25 billion from the implementation of a $500,000 increase in tax threshold next April, in addition to the National Housing Trust drawdown of $11 billion annually to fund budget expenditure in meeting the primary surplus which will come to an end next March.

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/business/Increased-tax-threshold-may-mean-more-belt-tightening-ahead—Byles_61265