THE GOVERNMENT has answered the call of stakeholders in the business process outsourcing (BPO) sector for an extension to the ongoing work-from-home arrangement by agreeing to a three-month extension.

Daryl Vaz, minister without portfolio in the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation, who heads the BPO caucus of the Government’s Economic Recovery Task Force, said that the Ministry of Finance gave the green light for the 90-day extension, which will end on August 31.

Vaz disclosed that the industry managed to retain more than 33,000 workers and would seek to reclaim the approximately 7,000 jobs shed because of clampdowns and other measures imposed to curb the spread of COVID-19.

“We are not yet in receipt of a formal reply, but ideally a year-end extension would have made it better to plan for the busiest seasons of the year – Thanksgiving and Christmas,” said a somewhat disappointed Henry.

The BPO sector is considered one of the green shoots of the Jamaican economy, but lost US$42 million in revenue because of COVID-19 restrictions, Vaz said.