Economic Indicators – March 29, 2018

** Previous BOJ Overnight Interest Rate (policy rate) as at January 18, 2018

For the 11-month period (April 2017 to February 2018) of the 2017/18 fiscal year, the Government of Jamaica (GOJ) exceeded its primary balance target by J$21.23B to achieve a balance of J$116.77B. This was driven by tax revenues exceeding budget by 2.0% to earn J$429.12B. Corporate and PAYE taxes outperformed the budget despite the GOJ raising the tax threshold to J$1.5M in 2017, possibly highlighting improved compliance measures implemented. Non-tax revenues also outperformed its budget by 6.0% to earn J$40.73B for the period.  Conversely, the GOJ has seemingly employed less aggressive spending with total expenditure behind budget by J$15.21B supporting the large fiscal surplus of J$26.26B. This surplus is likely to fall come the end of the fiscal year 2017/2018 due to supplementary salary changes for government employees.