Susan Gordon, Staff Reporter
Hill
The National Investment Bank of Jamaica (NIBJ) has already axed a little over one third of its staff ahead of its merger with the Development Bank of Jamaica (DBJ).
The cut of 14 staff members, from a complement of about 40, happened at the end of July.
It's unclear whether DBJ is going through a similar process as all requests for comment went unanswered.
Tight-lipped
Members of the steering committee overseeing the merger were tight-lipped about the redundancies, which come alongside news that PricewaterhouseCoopers is being awarded a $10 million contract by the Finance Ministry, apparently to finalise the merger.
Wednesday Business sources said the 14 NIBJ staff members of staff from a total of 40 at NIBJ were made redundant on July 28.
"The redundancy is a part of the merger process," said NIBJ chairman Aubyn Hill, who is tipped to chair the merged agencies.
"I'm not authorised to speak on the merger."
Plans for the merger were announced by Finance Minister Dr Omar Davies in 2003. He has said little of the plans since, but reported to the House in April that NIBJ - which is responsible for government investments and divestments - would retain its core activities.
