The Government has announced that a planned visit by, a team from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) slated for this week, has been cancelled.

Instead, a government technical team is slated to leave the island before the weekend for Washington to continue talks with the IMF.

The Government is yet to provide information on the reasons for the change of plans but Information Minister Daryl Vaz says details will be provided shortly by Finance Minister Audley Shaw.

Jamaica is now completing its letter of intent requesting a US$1.2-billion standby arrangement with the IMF.

Budget cut report delayed

Jamaicans will have to wait a bit longer to find out what areas of expenditure the Government plans to cut this fiscal year.

On Tuesday, Prime Minister Bruce Golding announced that the supplementary estimates would be tabled in Parliament on September 15.

However, Information Minister Daryl Vaz said yesterday that time table had been set back one week to allow for further consultations involving the Government and social partners.

The new schedule will see the supplementary estimates being tabled on Tuesday, September 22 with the Standing Finance Committee of Parliament meeting at 10 o'clock the next day to consider the document.

The House of Representatives will sit at 2 in the afternoon to debate the estimates.

The Government has already announced that its expenditure of programmes will be cut by about 20 per cent with the capital side of the Budget to be reduced by about 10 per cent.

Cyber crimes bill close

The long-anticipated cyber crimes bill is moving closer to reality. Accepting the need for legislation to capture the growing number of cyber crimes the Cabinet has approved legislation which is to be debated in Parliament shortly.