Jamaicans have been bracing for what local media’s been describing as a big tax package in the budget being presented by Finance Minister Audley Shaw.
Mr Shaw was on Thursday afternoon explaining in the parliament, just what kind of tax burden islanders will have to carry.
The government is trying to bridge a serious financing gap and respond to the dictates of the global economic downturn.
Jamaican police and military are on high alert – the Bruce Golding administration has been bracing for possible civil unrest that could follow the budget presentation.
The security forces were placed on standby on Wednesday after the Government told Jamaicans to expect increased taxes in order to finance the six billion US dollar Budget.
Caricom ready to talk trade with Canada
The 15-nation Caribbean Community (Caricom) says it is ready to begin negotiations with Canada on a new trade and development agreement.
The Caricom Regional Negotiating Machinery – the CRNM, is about to be dissolved and absorbed into the Caricom Secretariat in Guyana.
But officials there say that won’t affect the coming negotiations.
Caricom spokesman Leonard Robertson says the ground-work has been laid and the region is all set and ready to go forward with the talks.
Regional tourism industries suffer
Five Caribbean countries are reporting double-digit drops in tourist visits.
The Caribbean Tourism Organisation says the decline is part of the impact the global economic slowdown is having on the region’s top industry. According to the CTO, Anguilla has been worst hit with a decline of 18.8 percent.
The organisation says visits are down in most of its member countries except Jamaica, Cuba and Mexico’s Cancun region.
Tourist traffic declines ranged between 14 and 11 percent in Antigua, St Lucia, Montserrat and the Cayman Islands.
The US Virgin islands and Puerto Rico cited drops of 6.1 and 4.7 percent.
