MARCH 6, 2022 SECTION C www.jamaica-gleaner.com BUSINESS The Sunday Gleaner BUSINESS EVENTS Email entries to business@gleanerjm.com MARCH 9 Honey Bun (1982) Limited annual general meeting, Courtleigh Hotel & Suites, 85 Knutsford Boulevard, New Kingston, 10 a.m. MARCH 9 GraceKennedy Limited virtual investor briefing, via Zoom, 2:30 p.m. dionne.rhoden@gkco.com MARCH 10 CFO Society Jamaica webinar Let’s Talk Digital Assets – Cryptocurrencies and NFTs, via Zoom, 6 p.m. info@jamaica.cfosociety.org MARCH 11 FirstCaribbean International Bank Limited annual general meeting, virtual format – https:// web.lumiagm.com/213949515 – 10 a.m. Barbados time; 9 a.m. Jamaica time. agm@cibcfcib.com MARCH 11 Scotia Group Jamaica Limited annual general meeting, virtual format, 10 a.m. MARCH 14 Statistical Institute of Jamaica monthly release of International Merchandise Trade data for the period January-November 2021. MARCH 15 Statistical Institute of Jamaica release of monthly Consumer Price Index/Inflation data for February 2022. MARCH 29 Bank of Jamaica monetary policy announcement on interest rates. MARCH 31 Eppley Caribbean Property Fund Limited SCC virtual annual general meeting via online videoconference, 11 a.m. APRIL 7 Cargo Handlers Limited annual general meeting, at the CPJ board room, Guinep Way, Montego Freeport, Montego Bay, 2:30 p.m. APRIL 12 Pulse Investments Limited annual general meeting, at the Refuge, Villa Ronai, Old Stony Hill Road, St Andrew. 10:30 a.m. APRIL 27 Make Your Mark Consultants annual Middle Managers Conference, April 27-28. info@makeyourmark consultants.com. MAY 5 Guardian Holdings Limited annual general meeting, at the Guardian Corporate Centre, 1 Guardian Drive, Westmoorings, Trinidad & Tobago, 1:30 p.m. Trinidad time; 12:30 p.m. Jamaica time. The Bank of Jamaica, on the Kingston waterfront. FILE Microlenders still vague on tax rate, permissible interest on loans Huntley Medley Associate Business Editor JAMAICA’S OPERATION of a two-tiered corporate tax system that treats regulated and unregulated companies differently is causing a headache for microlenders who are unsure of where they stand. Companies in the sector have been paying the marginal rate of 25 per cent. But soon, they will start operating under a licensing regime and overseen by the Bank of Jamaica, BOJ, which will serve to reclassify them as ‘regulated entities’. That should mean that they will start paying the higher marginal tax rate of 33.33 per cent. But as of last week, that and other questions were still being punted to the Ministry of Finance. In a bid to assist microcredit businesses comply with the new law requiring licensing by the BOJ as of July this year, the central bank has been hosting a series of online consultations with microlenders. The last was at the end of February. The next will be in April. The information sessions are throwing up several questions and operational challenges facing microlenders, with the BOJ deferring some matters to the finance ministry and the tax authorities. Division chief for financial institutions supervision at the BOJ, Dr Jide Lewis, says the central bank, which has been made the regulator for microlenders by the new Microcredit Act, stopped short of saying what tax rate would be levied on microfinance companies, which are now designated as financial institutions. “In relation to tax matters, they are best addressed to the Ministry of Finance. I wouldn’t want us to make statements on that particular matter. It’s obviously a very important question. I just don’t think this is the audience,” Lewis said. He also kicked upstairs to ministry bureaucrats, microlenders’ concerns about whether, once licensed, they would be permitted to lend to government workers without the need for special permission, as is now required. “Those kinds of questions around government policy are best addressed there,” the central banker said, referring the question to the ministry. Meanwhile, the financial institutions supervision divisional head is discouraging microlenders from handling foreign currency in their operations without a cambio licence. His comments were in response to PLEASE SEE RATE, C3
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