JAMAICA IS to give up between $1 billion and $1.5 billion in revenue annually with the 100 per cent increase in duty-free allowance, Minister of Finance Dr Nigel Clarke has confirmed. SPEAKING WITH The Gleaner last Tuesday, Clarke said the move was in line with a commitment he made from 2020 that he would review the threshold and likely impact of an increase, as part of customs reform, and act accordingly. Earlier in the afternoon, Clarke told thousands of Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) supporters at the party’s 80th anniversary conference at the National Arena in Kingston that the allowance for personal items imported into Jamaica would move from US$50 to US$100 in April. Further, the threshold for Jamaicans returning with goods bought overseas is to move to US$1,000, up from US$500. Clarke suggested that arguments insisting that the move is an election ploy on the Government’s part, ahead of the pending local government election, are baseless. He said, in 2021, he was more specific, explaining that he committed then to looking at going from US$50 to US$100. “I stated my concern. My concern was whether this would have an impact on the retail industry. The fact that people bring in goods commercially and sell them,” said Clarke. He said that, since then, he has taken time to “better understand” the pros and the cons, and concluded that it would be advantageous. “The final analysis is that I’m satisfied that it is worth it. This is something I’ve been thinking about. People want to say it’s an election gimmick but, clearly, there is documented evidence. I’ve spoken about it for the past three years,”the minister said, pointing to the removal of fees on exports less than US$500 in the last budget to buttress his argument. He said the structure of Jamaica’s economy is changing and that the increase in trade of small items has gone up considerably. “So, what you’re seeing now is us looking at the obstacles to trade and dealing with those that we can afford to deal with … what you’re seeing me do is to give priority to the free flow of goods of small value,” Clarke said. Keenan Falconer, an economist assigned to the local office of the International Monetary Fund, has theorised that there may be an increase in fees applicable to the processing of imported personal items amid the announcement. “Because of the loss of revenue from items previously priced from $51 to $100, it’s possible that other fees that are applicable to their processing would go up, in order to compensate for that,” Falconer told The Gleaner on Sunday. He said the proposed increases in both limits were “long overdue”, especially for personal-item imports. Falconer said the threshold increases have become further necessitated because of the elevated inflation Jamaica has experienced over the last two years. He said the increases are expected to stimulate a higher volume of purchases that approximates more closely to persons’ actual demand for foreign goods. “Generally, imports to Jamaica are inelastic, meaning that, no matter the cost of the item, persons will still be willing to purchase these at a particular minimum quantity each time, as they are seen as necessities in light of the fact that they aren’t produced here – and despite the fact that they might be considered luxuries otherwise,” the economist said. He said, because of this inelasticity in prices, duty limits are often not a deterrent to imports, as persons will simply continue to purchase items they believe are necessary for whatever reason, and this has resulted in creative attempts to maximise consumption, such as the editing of invoices as real demands exceed what persons are able to import without attracting duties. He said that, because persons must frequently purchase items that total above the new threshold, to satisfy their ordinary demand, the expected revenue loss to the government will perhaps be mitigated, since these would already attract duties. “As the threshold increases, you may see other effects such as an ease in the burden of administrative procedures, which may result in cost savings to the government, as the previous limit was disproportionately too low, relative to the cost of enforcement,” Falconer said. kimone.francis@gleanerjm.com Duty-free allowance doubled for J’cans Gov’t to forego $1b with 100% spike Dr Nigel Clarke, minister of finance and the public service, addresses the JLP’s 80th Anniversary Conference at the National Arena. RUDOLPH BROWN/ PHOTOGRAPHER consulting firm in the Caribbean?’ As you think about your place in the AI (artificial intelligence) world, I really encourage you to remember your Caribbean roots, but also you have to remind yourself that you can play at the world stage,” said Moyou. “You see world-class experts, and when you look in the Caribbean, it’s very hard to find people who are worldclass. They are out there, but they are not very discoverable, so as much as you can, discover folks like yourself in these top institutions that remind you that, yes, you are capable of competing and contributing at that level,” Moyou added. As far back as 2012, calls have been made for policymakers in the Caribbean to be provided with information on how to make information, communication and technology (ICT) more affordable and equitable. In 2018, Prime Minister Andrew Holness told a Jamaica Investment Forum meeting that Jamaica should become the Caribbean centre for technology and innovation, along with business process outsourcing, agribusiness and energy, and trade, commerce and logistics. Moyou also told Friday’s forum that while the issue of ‘brain drain’ has been viewed negatively due to skilled professionals leaving their native lands for better opportunities overseas, he believes the phenomenon can be used to promote the Caribbean. “There is a hypothesis that when you come from the Caribbean, you have interacted with many different races of people. So when you go into corporate America and the big international corporate environment, I believe that people from the Caribbean naturally have an advantage when it comes to customer-facing conversations,” said Moyou. “As you think about representing your region in a lot of these large institutions, I think it is very important for us to participate. I know there is a big concern about brain-drain, but I think of brain-drain as an ambassador programme, so now I am an ambassador of the Caribbean,” Moyou continued. “Unbound the learning of the youth; please do not ‘gate’ these youths by the domains that you have set up for them. They have so much creativity, so power them with these tools so that they could create new markets. You are Caribbean-born, but you are globally competitive.” Meanwhile, X Eyee, the founder of AI consulting firm Malo Santo, told the forum that implementation safeguards and workforce development will be crucial for the introduction of AI into any geographical region. “You want to have guardrails to make sure that the way that AI is deployed in your society does more good than it does harm, and you also want to think about workforce development. If Amazon recommends to me a book that I don’t want to buy, that is not as harmful as a bank turning down a loan because of a biased AI system, so you want your regulation to be intelligent in that way,” said Eyee. “For workforce development, that is making sure that the folks in your region and the businesses in your region are prepared for that.” christopher.thomas@gleanerjm.com ‘Caribbean nationals are globally competitive’ Christopher Thomas/Gleaner Writer DR MARK Moyou, senior data scientist at American software company NVIDIA Corporation, is recommending to Caribbean nationals that they should carve out their place in the technology sector on the global level, thereby acting as ambassadors for the region. ADDRESSING A forum on artificial intelligence during Friday’s first day of the sixth annual Tech Beach Retreat at the Iberostar Resort in Rose Hall, St James, Moyou stated that Caribbean people have an advantage in regards to multi-cultural interactions. “We take a lot of pride in asking the question, ‘Okay, you’re going to sell e-servers to Facebook and Google, but what’s going to happen to the small THE MONTHLY GLEANER | DECEMBER 11, 2023 - JANUARY 10, 2024 | www.jamaica-gleaner.com | NEWS
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