FOLLOWING several appeals from trade unionists, minimum wage earners will receive an additional $2,000 every 40-hour work week beginning April 1, 2022. The new $9,000 weekly price floor is a legal minimum payment set by the Government, of which employers can exceed but legally they should not fall below. The
CONSUMER prices rose at its fastest pace in more than 11 years over the 12 months to the end of February, prompting added fears that the Bank of Jamaica (BOJ) will continue to raise interest rates and add new tools to fight runaway price increases. Data released by the Statistical
The price of Brent crude has lost 30 per cent since it peaked above US$139 per barrel a week ago, falling below US$100 on Tuesday. Though analysts, traders and investors forecast the possibility of the commodity surging to $200, Brent crude shed seven per cent of its value. “I
LOSSES racked up by Trinidad-based insurer Guardian Holdings, Bermudan reinsurance subsidiary, in the third quarter of last year dragged down profit growth in the group for all 2021. Guardian Holdings reports the impact was seen in its full year profit growing by just one per cent. In its recently released
A discussion paper released in January 2022 by Bank of Jamaica (BOJ) is contending that the Jamaican dollar depreciates when there is heightened risk perception in the world even more than other factors. The paper, entitled “Identifying the External and Internal Drivers of Exchange Rate Volatility in Small Open Economies:
AYMASTER, the island's first bill payment company, is now seeking to beat back competition by adding value through its digital channel. The company told the Jamaica Observer that with upgrades, usage of its services is once again on the upswing. It is also considering entering other markets with its brick
The Washington DC-based financial institutions gave the signal in a joint release late Tuesday with the IMF saying it could approve Ukraine's request for financial help through its Rapid Financing Instrument “as early as next week.” The Ukraine made the emergency financing request late last week in the aftermath of
DEBRA Cumming, CEO of Century 21 Heave-Ho Properties Limited, a real estate company, shares that 2021 was a year in which AirBnB, the short-stay vacation experience which allows property owners to profit from vacation rentals, “did fairly well due to the fact that many hotels were closed and many people
TOURISM Minister Edmund Bartlett, as usual, is sounding a positive outlook on the prospects for the continued rebound of Jamaica's tourism sector, despite the instability created by the war in the Ukraine. Coming out of a retreat hosted by the ministry in Montego Bay on the weekend to examine the
Contributed It’s all eyes and ears focused on Guardian Life Limited’s Vice President, Individual Life Sales, Oneil Clarke (right), as he motivates a cohort of eight Jamaican rising stars in athletics and weightlifting. In rapt attention (from left) are athletes Anthony Carpenter and Malik James-King, Andrea Hardware (third left), president
