By the Caribbean Journal staff

Jamaica will modernize its fiscal administration in a programme funded by a $65 million Inter-American Development Bank.

The programme aims to improve customs and tax revenue collections, along with better management of the government’s debt and payment operations.

The programme focuses on four main components: modernizing tax administration, strengthening customs operations, improving debt management and developing an improved strategy to handle the central treasury.

The plan aims to achieve its goals by 2016 through a decline in the gap between actual and potential collection of the general consumption tax.

The loan is for a 20-year period with a five-year grace period.