The Independent Fiscal Commission (IFC) was created in the context of Jamaica’s ongoing internationally acclaimed economic reform programme and debt-reduction path, specifically with reference to strengthening and entrenching the country’s institutional economic framework. The IFC will monitor the government’s macroeconomic and fiscal policy and provide to the public, through published reports, expert, unbiased, independent assessments of government’s macroeconomic and fiscal management.
Fiscal policy refers to government spending, revenue and financing policies, and fiscal management is the ongoing process of planning and implementing fiscal policy.
To strengthen accountability and enhance the transparency and credibility of Jamaica’s management of its fiscal affairs and promote continued fiscal discipline in line with international best practices, the IFC is tasked to:
🔵 Review and publish assessments of the credibility of each proposed annual national budget and a review of subsequent budgetary outcomes.
🔵Publish assessments of the overall soundness and sustainability of governments fiscal policies and Jamaica’s fiscal position.
🔵Monitor governments adherence to Jamaica’s fiscal responsibility laws.
🔵Inform the public on fiscal developments and their implications.
🔵Inform the public on the implications of macroeconomic conditions and/or events for fiscal policy.
🔵Enhance public awareness and understanding of fiscal policy.
🔵Encourage informed debate on fiscal policy.
🔵The Commissioner is not a political appointee, but a non-partisan, statutory protected public officer appointed by the Governor General with a 7-year term of office independent of the 5-year political cycle.
🔵The Commissioner may employ and appoint staff to assist him or her in undertaking the functions of the IFC.
🔵The IFC will review the government’s fiscal policy papers and related budget documents.
🔵Publication of the Economic and Fiscal Assessment Report, which provides an independent assessment of Jamaica’s macroeconomic and fiscal performance and outlook.
🔵Publication of the Statement of Fiscal Performance, which provides an unbiased assessment of Government’s performance in relation to budget and fiscal targets.
🔵Publication of an annual report on the execution of the functions of the IFC.
🔵The Independent Fiscal Commission (IFC), through the Independent Fiscal Commission Act, became a legal entity in 2021, with operational effect on January 1, 2025.
🔵Mr. Courtney Williams, former Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of National Security, G. Arthur Brown scholar and career economist with experience including the Ministry of Finance and the International Monetary Fund, was sworn in as the inaugural Fiscal Commissioner in March 2023, after a recruitment and selection process and consultations with the Prime Minister and Leader of the Opposition. He assumed duties on May 1, 2023.
🔵A five-person Fiscal Advisory Committee was established January 1, 2025, to advise the Commissioner on key macroeconomic and fiscal developments and outlook, chaired by former Co-Chair of the Economic Programme Oversight Committee (EPOC), and JMMB Group Chairman, Keith Duncan.