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State Minister for Finance and the Public Service, Fayval Williams.

to show that transformation and modernization have in the past been carried out in sections of the public sector.

Referring to the chaos that existed at the Registrar General’s Department (RGD) in Spanish Town, St Catherine, in the 1970s for example, but which years later was reorganised under the Public Sector Modernization Programme and designated an executive agency, Williams said:

“I use the example as a part of government that has transformed

to become more efficient, but also to get publicsector workers to bear in mind that when they hear the word efficiency and transformation, (they should) open their minds to the opportunities that could exist.”

The state minister said that between 2008 and 2015 the RGD reported that they received more than 500,000 online applications and had it not been transformed and embraced technology it would have locked

She also cited the example of the divestment of the Kingston Container Terminal, where about 800 workers who were hitherto employed by the State no longer work for the Government but for the private operators, who have also taken on additional staff.

One of the structural benchmarks under the EFF was that the authorities would submit to Cabinet an action plan for public-sector transformation by the end of September 2016.

In particular, it would include detailed timelines for the introduction of shared corporate services for communications and human resource management and the merger, abolition and/or divestment/privatization of entities. The plan was also expected to outline specific areas where efficiency gains can be made.

According to the August 2016 memorandum of economic and financial policies submitted to the IMF, the Government has signed new wage agreements for the two-year period after March 2015 with 97 per cent of public-sector employees. Discussions for the period starting April 2017 will begin by November 2016 and are expected to conclude before April 1, 2017.

Informed by the compensation review to be completed by December 2016, the Government’s goal is to achieve a wage bill of nine per cent of GDP in fiscal year 2018/19, and to firmly maintain the ratio of public debt-to-GDP on a downward path over the medium term.

The memorandum said that in order to achieve that objective, the Government will continue to reduce the size of the public sector through the elimination of posts and by putting in place a clear attrition rule, subject to the capacity needs in a limited number of priority areas.

IMF-Jamaica Calendar

OCTOBER 2016

Completion of staffing of Tax Administration Jamaica as a semi-autonomous revenue authority.

IExecution of transfer pricing implementation strategy to begin.

IComplete drafting of regulations to implement the Special Economic Zone Act.

ICommence hiring of the Special Economic Zone Authority’s management team.

ICash transfers for intragovernment transactions, which can be replaced by journal vouchers, will be eliminated.

IBank of Jamaica will start equalising the reserve requirements for foreign currency and domestic currency deposits in the banking system.

INOVEMBER 2016

A new procurement manual will be prepared with the assistance of the Inter-American Development Bank.

IDECEMBER 2016

Phase III of the Customs Act will be tabled in Parliament.

IThe suite of regulations and rules that will comprise the regime for financial holding companies and consolidated supervision will be tabled.

I