Tuesday, February 19, 2019

THE GLEANER, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2019 | www.jamaica-gleaner.com | FEATURE1

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CABINET DECISIONS

ADVISORY 1: Cabinet has approved the following for tabling in Parliament: Annual reports • Urban Development Corporation 2014/15 and 2015/16 • Jamaica Mortgage Bank 2017/18 • National Road Operating and Construction Company 2016/17 • University Council of Jamaica 2017/18. It was noted that the UCJ is up to date in its reporting. • All-Island Cane Farmers’ Association for year ended September 30, 2017 • National Irrigation Commission for year ended March 31, 2016 • Chief Justices Statistical Report on Parish Courts, July to September 2018 2: Award of contracts New 2MVA standby generator and accessories at NMIA Cabinet has approved the award of a contract for the supply and instal- lation of a new 2MVA Caterpillar Standby Generator Set and accessories at the Norman Manley International Airport. The contract was awarded to IMCA Jamaica Ltd by the use of direct contracting methodology in the sum of US$1,229,300.00. Gabionwall construction and roadworks – Sir John Golding Road Cabinet approved the award of a contract to Chins’ Construction Company in the sum of J$62,987,500.00 to undertake road rehabili- tation and drainage-improvement works along the Sir John Golding Road in St Andrew. SUPPLY OF COASTAL SURVEILLANCE SYSTEMS TO JAMAICA DEFENCE FORCE Cabinet approved the award of a contract to theThales Group to supply coastal surveillance systemCoastWatcher 100 as one component of the Maritime Domain Awareness Capability initiative of the Government. This contract with the Thales Group in France is in the sum of US$30 million and will be paid over a period of three financial years, beginning in the 2018/19 financial year. Elhydro Kleenoil Bypass Filtration System in the JUTC Fleet Cabinet has approved the award of a contract to Elhydro Incorporated for provision of materials and technical professional advice and to per- form all operations for the implementation of Phase 1 of the Elhydro Kleenoil Bypass Filtration System in the Jamaica Urban Transit Company fleet of buses. The value of the contract is J$251,050,000.00. PROPOSED RECRUITMENT OF GOVERNOR FOR THE BANK OF JAMAICA The minister of finance has indicated to the Cabinet the need to com- mence a formal search for a new governor for the Bank of Jamaica (BOJ). It was noted that the contract for the current governor had been extended for two years and would expire in November 2019; that the governor had completed 10 years in the post and had successfully com- pleted programmes of activities agreed upon; and that themodernisation

Ruel Reid

The establishment of the Standing Finance Committee for 2019/20 will review the Estimates of Expenditure on Monday, March 4, and Tuesday, March 5. The schedule of contributions to the Budget Debate is as follows: 1) Minister of finance opens the Debate on Thursday, March 7, 2019. 2) The Opposition spokesperson on Finance: Tuesday, March 12, 2019 3) Leader of the Opposition: Thursday, March 14, 2019. 4) Prime minister: Tuesday March 19, 2019. 5) Minister of Finance closes the Debate on Wednesday, March 20, 2019.

of the BOJ required certain changes, including new leadership. Cabinet has taken note of the plans of the minister of finance to for- mally inform the Opposition about this initiative and the establishment of the search committee. PARLIAMENTARY MATTERS Parliament was prorogued on February 12. The tabling of the 2019/20 Estimates of Expenditure was held on February 14, 2019. The next sitting of Parliament will be on Monday, March 4, 2019 .

Update on financial matters from the Honourable Fayval Williams

CREDIT RATINGS This morning, I am calling your attention to the fact that the credit ratings on Jamaica’s global bonds continue to move in a positive direction, with the latest being the international rating agency Fitch’s upgrade of the Government of Jamaica’s (GOJ) inter- national debt to ‘B+’ from ‘B’ and revising the out- look to ‘Stable’from ‘Positive’. The rating agency also upgraded the country ceiling to‘BB-’from‘B’, meaning that strong local entities can be rated as high as‘BB-’. This is excellent news. It means, for example, that a Jamaican company with strong diversified earnings can have a rating that is not constrained by Jamaica’s country rating. Benefits of this for the company are lower funding costs and access to a wider base of potential investors. Taken together, this is Jamaica’s highest rating in over 10 years from Fitch. The Government of Jamaica welcomes the ratings upgrade and remains commit- ted to the continuation of policies and programmes that enable a stable macroeconomic environment that facilitates the economic growth required for sustainable and inclusive development. Fitch said the ratings are supported by Jamaica’s structural strengths, such as relatively high income per capita, and social indicators, policy consensus, and relatively strong institutional capacity. According to Fitch’s press release, positive performance indicators underpinning the upgrade in Jamaica’s credit rating include: • The strong performance of tax revenues, increas- ing by 10.4 per cent (year on year); • The declining path of Jamaica’s public debt/gross domestic product (GDP); • The decrease in the Government’s interest burden to an estimated 6.8 per cent of GDP in financial year (FY) 2018/19 from8.0 per cent recorded in FY2014/15; • Reduction in the unemployment rate to an all-time low of 9.1 per cent in 2018 (annual average); • Strong external liquidity; • Structural indicators such as governance, human development per capita, income; • Reforms to strengthen the macroeconomic insti- tutional framework, including the establishment of a fiscal council; and • Cross–party support for economic reforms. PUBLIC SECTOR Internally within Government, the GOJ will be implementing some key projects over the next 18 months to improve the levels of efficiency and quality of service delivery in the public sector. Minister Clarke

190 public bodies. This creates an administrative and governance challenge. We are reducing the number of public bodies through merging entities that are similar in function, closing entities that have outlived their useful lives, divesting entities, and, very importantly, integrating entities back into the parent ministries where it is no longer necessary to have a separate body set up by statute to deliver the function. Importantly, the function does not go away. Instead, the way in which the function is delivered changes. Just to give you a comprehensive list of the entities merged: n The Jamaica Foundation for Lifelong Learning, National Youth Service, the Apprenticeship Board, and the HEART Trust/NTA; n The Office of the Children’s Registry and the Child Development Agency; n The National Land Agency and the Land Administration and Management Programme. Entities such as Kingston Waterfront Hotel, Portmore Commercial Development Limited, Port Authority Management Services, and the Road Maintenance Fund have been closed. The functions of the Board of Supervision have been integrated into the Ministry of Local Government and Community Development, and the functions of the National Family Planning Board and the National Council on Drug Abuse have been integrated into the Ministry of Health. Having had these successes with little, if any, dis- ruption to the delivery of services, there is now an accelerated programme in place for public bodies, and action will be taken on 18 more public bodies by September of this year. These include the closure of Montego Bay Beach Ltd, themerger of the Fair Trading Commission and the Consumer Affairs Commission, and the integration of the Legal Aid Council into the Ministry of Justice. Minister Clarke added that the wage bill manage- ment project seeks to address the current cumber- some compensation structure and the attainment and maintenance of a wage bill-to-GDP ratio of nine per cent. Currently, there are 325 separate salary scales and classification levels in central government and over 175 allowances. Already, steps have been taken, with the Office of the Services Commissions to develop and implement rules to regulate the rehiring of retired public officers in the public sector. Over the next 18 months, a compensation policy, philosophy and strategy around effective spend on public-sector compensation is also to be delivered.

Fayval Williams

unveiled these on Thursday, February 7. The projects, being coordinated by the Transformation Implementation Unit, are the intro- duction of shared corporate services, human resource management transformation, the continued rational- isation of public bodies, public-sector efficiency and ICT, and wage bill management. Shared corporate services will begin in eight areas (human resource management, finance and accounts, procurement, asset management, IT services, internal audit, public relations and Communication and the centralisation of legal services under the Attorney General’s Department). Minister Clarke said that this will revolutionise the way the public sector works and the level of service that the Government provides.

Minister Clarke also announced that better use will be made of information and communication tech- nology to re-engineer processes to achieve greater efficiency in how public services are delivered to citi- zens. This includes the roll-out of a single IT network to provide connectivity across ministries, departments and agencies. This will enable integrated information sharing while reducing the cost of providing ICT ser- vices. This project will also upgrade and consolidate the GOJ’s data centres. Across the public bodies, twenty public bodies have been rationalised over the last two-year period through mergers, closures, divestments and integra- tion into parent ministries. You are well aware that there are approximately