THIS DAY IN OUR PAST
The following events took place on March 31 in the years identified:
1987:economy The Jamaican “as planned in terms of the structural adjustment programme” is now resting far more securely on the four legs of tourism, agriculture, manufacturing and mining, Governor General Florizel Glasspole says in his Throne Speech as the new session of Parliament is ceremonially open. Florizel says that “with the steadily improving performance of those sectors, the recent finalisation of an agreement with the International Monetary Fund sets the stage for the movement of the economy into a period of real growth, due in large measure to the improved stability provided by this agreement”.
1987:Shares of Carib Cement Company at Rockfort should be made available to the public for subscription by June 1987 Chairman of the National Investment Bank of Jamaica, Meyer Matalon, says. The cement company, which has a net book value of about S200 million (after deducting loans), is being expanded from its present capacity of 400,000 tons to 800,000, but the shares will be made available to the public before completion of the expansion programme at year end, Matalon says. New silos and a power plant, using coal, are already completed at the plant at Rockfort.
1995:commercial Informal importers (ICIs) and other importers who do not have invoices but bring in goods valued at US$1,000 and more, or the Jamaican equivalent, will be required to complete a C78 form as of April 10. This is revealed by Allison Moore, commissioner of Customs, in an interview with The Gleaner. She says the ICIs have already been told about this new procedure. This exercise is part of the plan to get small importers to pay more duties on the goods they import into the country. The commissioner of Customs says the new procedure, originally scheduled to come on stream on April 3, is pushed back until April 10 because the notice to vendors is too short. Moore emphasises that the new regulation will affect not only ICIs, but anyone who brings in goods valued at US$1,000 or more.