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<span style="font-weight: bold">News Source: OTGNR - </span>
<span style="font-weight: bold"> Questions raised about # Jamaica ' s public debt ( RJR )...</span>
Finance Minister Audley Shaw faced tough questions on Tuesday morning about Government arrears as well as the overall public debt at Parliament's Standing Finance Committee meeting. The question about the Government's indebtedness was first raised by Dr. Omar Davies, Opposition Spokesman on Finance, who sought a precise figure on all outstanding arrears incurred by the State.However, this information was not forthcoming from the Finance Minister who said no specific figure could be given as data was still being collected."We are actually now engaged in doing an audit because over time we have tended to rely on the information provided to us by the various entities, we have ordered an audit and that audit is now underway. The figure is quite substantial because when I took over as minister, it was in the region of $14 billion and it's higher now," said Mr. Shaw.This did not go down well with Dr. Davies who said the figures should have been ready for examination."The question is how are we going to deal with it as it's a real number and there are institutions in problems. I'm surprised that your officials aren't able to tell you exactly what that figure is," Dr. Davies said."Because we're auditing it now," Mr. Shaw replied.
<span style="font-weight: bold"> Questions raised about # Jamaica ' s public debt ( RJR )...</span>
Finance Minister Audley Shaw faced tough questions on Tuesday morning about Government arrears as well as the overall public debt at Parliament's Standing Finance Committee meeting. The question about the Government's indebtedness was first raised by Dr. Omar Davies, Opposition Spokesman on Finance, who sought a precise figure on all outstanding arrears incurred by the State.However, this information was not forthcoming from the Finance Minister who said no specific figure could be given as data was still being collected."We are actually now engaged in doing an audit because over time we have tended to rely on the information provided to us by the various entities, we have ordered an audit and that audit is now underway. The figure is quite substantial because when I took over as minister, it was in the region of $14 billion and it's higher now," said Mr. Shaw.This did not go down well with Dr. Davies who said the figures should have been ready for examination."The question is how are we going to deal with it as it's a real number and there are institutions in problems. I'm surprised that your officials aren't able to tell you exactly what that figure is," Dr. Davies said."Because we're auditing it now," Mr. Shaw replied.