Davies
THE PARTNERSHIP for Progress talks will resume next week, with the aim of finalising a draft agreement similar to the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that was signed earlier this year with the trade unions representing civil servants.
Dr. Omar Davies, Minister of Finance and Planning, told the weekly post-Cabinet press briefing at Jamaica House that a Government team comprised of Ministers Maxine Henry-Wilson, Dr. Peter Phillips and Horace Dalley would be meeting with its counterparts in the discussions.
"The full Government team will be meeting with the full private sector and trade union team next week," Dr. Davies said on Monday. He said, "We hope that shortly we will have a draft agreement which builds on the MoU with the trade unions."
The Partnership for Progres is aimed at building a social partnership involving the private sector, unions and Government. It aims to ensure that Jamaica's socio-economic climate improves through a combination of public expenditure cuts, wage restraint and tax reform.
Giving an update on the economy, Dr. Davies said that preliminary figures for the first quarter of the year were indicating that the Jamaican economy was on the rebound.
Citing evidence of this growth, Dr. Davies stated that statistics from the Statistical Institute of Jamaica (STATIN) showed that Government revenue was 3.8 per cent ahead of target. Meanwhile, expenditure was 2.8 per cent lower than projected.
STRONG RECOVERY
The Finance Minister attributed the growth in the economy to strong recovery in tourism, consistent strong performance in mining and the infrastructure development such as the North Coast Highway, among others.
He pointed out that there was a whole range of positive developments which are coming together at this time, which he said had given the Government the confidence that the present level of growth will continue.
The Government was committed to eventually eliminating the fiscal deficit, he said. "Our performance in the last year and our performance to date are supportive of our objectives in eliminating the fiscal deficit in fiscal year 2005/06," he said.
