KINGSTON, Jamaica (JIS) — Jamaica continues to see a positive trend in revenue and grants, totalling $70.1 billion in May, significantly ahead of budget.

This was revealed by Economic Programme Oversight Committee (EPOC) Co-Chair, Richard Byles, at a monthly briefing at Sagicor Life’s offices in New Kingston, today (July 13).

Byles hailed Tax Administration Jamaica (TAJ) for improvements in its tax collection mechanisms, which led to a strong tax revenue of $67.6 billion, compared to a budget of $63.8 billion. He said this is also an increase of $12 billion over the same period last year.

Taxes in all categories – Income and Profits, Production and Consumption, and International Trade – performed well and are ahead of budget.

Meanwhile, Byles said Expenditures continue to be below budget, due to the late approval of the 2016/17 budget. Some $3.3 billion less was spent on Programmes and $3.2 less on Capital Expenditure in May. This, coupled with the positive variance on Revenues and Grants, accounted for a strong Primary Surplus Balance of $17.5 billion, compared to a budget of $8 billion.

Interest expense was also below budget by $1.5 billion and helped to produce a better-than-expected fiscal balance of $4 billion, compared to a budget of $15.1 billion.

Byles said Net International Reserves (NIR) stood at US$2.3 billion at the end of June, which is comfortably in excess of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) target of US$1.81 billion.

On June 17, the IMF completed the combined 11th and 12th reviews under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) for Jamaica. This enabled the disbursement of approximately US$80 million. This brings total disbursement to about US$748.2 million.