The Andrew Holness administration is boasting about the $23.6 billion growth in tax revenues during the April to June quarter.

This spells good news for the administration, which while increasing its tax intake, has been keeping expenditure tight.

Finance Minister Dr Nigel Clarke says this is welcome news particular given the fact that the Government lost $74 billion of tax revenues during 2020 due to the pandemic and other challenges.

Writing on his Twitter account, Clarke emphasised that, “there is a long way to go, and risks remain but the fiscal year is off to an encouraging start. We need increased economic activity to continue to support tax revenue growth”.

He sought to remind the Jamaican public that, this fiscal year, the Government of Jamaica expenditures have been supported by a one-off, non-repeatable $30-billion dividend (which is non-tax revenue) by the Bank of Jamaica from profits made in previous years.

Clarke stressed that, “this (BOJ dividend payment) will not be available next fiscal year”.

As such, this amount of income source has to be replaced by revenue growth.