Shaw says oil hedge will continue
Published:Thursday | May 12, 2016 | 12:00 AM
The Andrew Holness administration is taking steps to continue the oil hedge arrangement that former Finance Minister Dr Peter Phillips introduced as a buffer against sharp increases in the price of oil on the international market.
Finance and Public Service Minister Audley Shaw told journalists yesterday that the original $7 of tax on fuel that Phillips had put in place, "which was supposed to be dedicated to a hedge fund, I intend to put that into a hedge fund, so that that, in fact, can be part of the hedge against future increases in prices. That is something that will be still on the table."
Shaw said the Government was actively looking at a successor hedge for when the current arrangement ends in September.
Yesterday, he announced an additional special consumption tax increase of $7 per litre on petrol, which will pull in $6.5 billion in revenue.