Shaw said, already he had established a task force, which would be responsible for setting up a central Treasury management system (CTMS), which would facilitate the transfer of surplus funds on the books of public sector agencies to the Consolidated Fund.

The most current public sector bodies report issued in April estimates that government bodies would generate pre-tax profits of $16 billion this fiscal year and that $12.66 billion of that would flow to government coffers as corporate and other taxes.

Accumulated surpluses

Several of the public companies have also accumulated surpluses over time, such as National Housing Trust, $16 billion, Airports Authority of Jamaica, $2 billion, Factories Corporation, $2.6 billion, and Student's Loan Bureau $5.5 billion, as disclosed in the public bodies report.

Shaw raised the issue of the CTMS again Wednesday in Parliament, having last outlined his thinking on the system in late summer at a Caribbean money forum co-hosted by the Bank of Jamaica in Kingston.

"It cannot be then that in this time of fiscal tightness that I have public sector entities out there that have surpluses, savings accounts and using some of it also to put it into the market demanding higher interest rates from the Government," Shaw said at the 13th annual senior level policy seminar of Caribbean Cen-tre for Money and Finance.

"My own public sector entities through securities dealers are demanding higher interest rates from us when we issue Treasury bills. That can't be, either."

The task force comprises the central bank governor, Derick Latibeaudiere, representatives of the Ministry of Finance, and the Accountant General Department, and a consultant who is to come on-board shortly to establish the central Treasury management system, the minister said.

"So that in putting that Treasury management system together, we must find a way where the Consolidated Fund and the management of the fiscal affairs of the country can better benefit from managing the peaks and troughs of the overall earning capacity of the country," the finance minister said.

Shaw said Wednesday that Cabinet had already approved the CTMS.

dionne.rose@gleanerjm.com