Business

Contributed Crews work during the St James blitz to restore hundreds of JPS customers.
April 2, 2026

JPS writes off J$3.5b in Hurricane Melissa damage as profit slides

The Jamaica Public Service Company (JPS) has written off US$22.3 million — about J$3.5 billion — in assets damaged by Hurricane Melissa last October. The electricity utility said in its audited financials, released on Wednesday, that the charge reflects damage to its property, plant and equipment, primarily within its transmission and distribution network.

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Contributed Small Business Association of Jamaica vice-president Dennise Williams.
April 2, 2026 by Luke Douglas

MSMEs seek bigger share of $470 billion procurement bill

Jamaica’s Government spends about US$3 billion (J$470 billion) per year to procure goods and services from the private sector, with only about one per cent going to micro, small, and medium sized…
Business
April 2, 2026

BOJ holds policy rate citing uncertainty

The Bank of Jamaica (BOJ) has opted to maintain its benchmark interest rate at 5.50 per cent, underscoring heightened global uncertainty and an increasingly fragile inflation outlook as the dominant…
Business
April 2, 2026

Persons outside labour force surge in Melissa-hit parishes

Some 30,100 fewer persons were employed as of January 2026 compared to the year before, and Jamaica’s labour force also fell by 33,000 during the same period, according to key indicators from the…
AP People visit an Apple Store, inside a shopping mall, in Beijing, China, Thursday, April 10, 2025.
April 2, 2026

Apple at 50

A scrawny hippie and a nerdy engineer who became prank-playing friends vowed to change the world when they founded a Silicon Valley startup on April Fools’ Day 50 years ago and then — no joke — pulled…
A constuction worker at the site of construction in St Ann.
April 1, 2026

Incomplete developments trigger state crackdown

More than 157 real estate developments across Jamaica are currently listed as incomplete despite passing their estimated completion date, according to the Real Estate Board’s (REB) public register.…
NCB Atrium in New Kingston
April 1, 2026

NCB refinancing US$52 million in debt

Conglomerate NCB Financial Group (NCBFG) closed its bond refinancing offers this week, targeting some US$52 million equivalent across Jamaican dollar and US dollar tranches. The amount raised has not…
Business
April 1, 2026

VM Investments secures court order to pause Kintyre reorganisation

VM Investments Limited (VMIL) has moved to tighten its grip on the long-running restructuring of Kintyre Holdings Jamaica Limited (KHJL), after securing an interim court order that temporarily blocks…
Cedric Stephens
April 1, 2026

Cedric E. Stephens | Seeing Jamaica’s centenary in 2062

The actors in the island’s 2026-27 Budget Debate performed poorly. Even though they made many references to the socio-economic and other impacts of hurricanes Beryl and Melissa, the performance of the…
File Project STAR (Social Transformation and Renewal) Project Director, Saffrey Brown.
March 29, 2026 by Luke Douglas

Major crimes fall in STAR communities, but training numbers dip

Major crimes declined in the five communities served by Project STAR during the quarter ended November 2025, compared with the previous quarter, underscoring the impact of the social and economic…