DEAL

to the property sale,”Morrison said.

The Office of the Contractor General has since been subsumed into the Integrity Commission.

Meanwhile, the PAAC was told that revenue flows into the coffers of the state-owned oil refinery, Petrojam, have been significantly reduced as a result of an overall reduction in the sale of petroleum products.

In the original budget, Petrojam had projected to pull in $207 million in revenues, but this has been adjusted to $92 million in the revised estimates.

The committee was also advised that the national census that was expected to be done by the Statistical Institute of Jamaica this year has been pushed back to 2021 for completion. Nearly $1 billion for the census has been deferred to next year.

Budget allocation to the Students’ Loan Bureau (SLB) amounting to $2.7 billion has been deferred this fiscal year.

Committee Chairman Dr Wykeham McNeill wanted to know if the SLB had sufficient funds to provide loans to students in a year when many have been negatively impacted by COVID-19.

Morrison reported that the SLB currently has $6.2 billion in resources to meet whatever demands that are made this year.