Effective Thursday, Jamaicans will be paying more to talk on telephones. Finance Minister Audley Shaw last night announced an increase in the tax on telephone cards, telephone calls and instruments from 20 per cent to 25 per cent.

The finance minister also announced an increase in departure tax from $1,000 to $1,800.

The earning from both tax measures is expected to yield $1.7 billion for the Government, which is seeking to run a Budget deficit of 8.7 per cent, up from the $6.6 billion which Parliament approved in April.

"In light of the significant fallout occurring within various sectors such as bauxite/alumina, tourism ... there is need for additional revenue," Shaw said.

Interest charges of $16.2 billion, as well as the reduction in government tax revenue by $12.9 billion helped to throw the Government's Budget out of line.

Shaw had tabled a $555-billion Budget in April but the revised estimates have seen it climb to $561 billion.

"It is a time for unselfishness and sacrifice to triumph over selfishness and greed," he said. "In these worst of times, we can square our shoulders and determine to unearth the best of times."

Opposition Spokesman on Finance Dr Omar Davies, in his contribution to the debate on the Supplementary Estimates, continued to call the Government's Budget "incredible".

Underestimation

Davies said the Budget was out of line because of the "underestimation of what the interest payments were going to be ... compounded by the overestimation of revenues".

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Bruce Golding has given the clearest signal that the axe will swing through the public sector, chopping many jobs.

"We will have to trim the size of government," Golding told Parliament early this morning.

He said the cost of government is too huge and that the state cannot afford to keep paying its 117,000 employers and remain viable.

"Cutting jobs by themselves will not lead to efficiency," Golding said.

Golding, who began his address to Parliament at 12:42 a.m., said a special unit is to be set up in the Office of the Prime Minister to look at modernising and restructuring the public service.