PIOJ: Local sector continues to decline
Published: Tuesday | August 18, 2009
Data presented during a press briefing at the PIOJ's New Kingston office revealed that remittances declined by their sharpest levels yet, recording a 16.6 per cent decrease in inflows.
The mining and quarrying sector also continued to show devastating declines as the sector continued to react to the temporary closure of two major bauxite plants.
Recovery slow
Real value added fell 62.5 per cent, while manufacture and construction also dropped 4.1 and 3.8 per cent.
PIOJ Director General Dr Wesley Hughes maintained that the figures were in line with projections made by the PIOJ in January.
He said Jamaica's recovery would be slow, although the economies of some industrial countries, including the United States, appear to be improving.
"Expectations of a long, slow recovery still remain in spite of the indication of what some call green shoots," Hughes told journalists yesterday.
"The projection for the Jamaican economy remains quite challenging because of the continued impact of the economic recession," he said, as external demand for Jamaica's goods and services remained weak and foreign direct investment inflows declined.
Strong economic performers
The weak performance across the sectors drove up the island's fiscal deficit by $4.1 billion to $35.9 billion, while revenue declined $7.7 billion.
External trade deficit was negatively affected by the poor economic conditions as it declined 38.2 per cent.
Agriculture and tourism were the only strong economic performers.
The agricultural sector grew by 9.2 per cent, while hotel and restaurants, which form the bulk of the activities in the tourism sector, posted a 3.9 per cent increase.
Cruise arrivals and stopover arrivals also increased by five and 6.4 per cent.
Agriculture's performance was due in large part to a boost from the ministry's productivity programme, the PIOJ said, as well as the sector's recovery from Hurricane Dean in 2007 and Tropical Storm Gustav last August.
