Nagra Plunkett, Staff ReporterWESTERN BUREAU: CHAIRMAN OF the Jamaica Tourist Board (JTB), Dennis Morrison, has identified the need for an improvement in the collection of data to evaluate the country's economic performance.
"We are now at a stage where the growth rate is more than three per cent based on consumption of critical raw materials that goes into production," he explained.
"I think the official data significantly understates the reality. It has to do with how data is collected, the co-operation of the owners of businesses in reporting accurate figures and even reporting at all."
He was responding to the Planning Institute of Jamaica's (PIOJ) projections of a three percent growth rate in the gross domestic product for 2004-2007. The PIOJ director-general, Dr. Wesley Hughes, made the report at the Harmony Cove Resort Investment Conference at the Ritz Carlton Hotel on Thursday.
According to Mr. Morrison, the consumption of raw materials, such as cement and oil, does not match the current rate
figures. He said, the rate of
consumption would suggest that the growth rate is actually higher than the actual figures.
"I do not want to question Dr. Hughes' integrity or cause a controversy, it's just to say that we need to do something to upgrade the collection of data so that we have more realistic information coming out," he said.
Dr. Hughes said the three
percent is a reasonable good rate of growth for "an economy which is recovering."
The PIOJ director-general said, "We tend to have a fairly conservative estimate... We figure that in practice when all of these investment projects come on-stream you're likely to have a higher growth rate than what we're planning on."
Dr. Hughes said crime is a hindrance to more rapid growth as it pushes up the cost of
operating businesses, therefore reduces profitability and inhibits investment.
The Harmony Cove Resort Investors Conference, which ended on Friday, was aimed at soliciting the support of prospective financiers for the $1.2 billion resort project. The development in the parish of Trelawny is intended to be the leading luxury resort in the Caribbean.
