ANALYSIS
1. Net International Reserves - NIR rose by US$73.7 million to US$2.15B in the month of April. In addition, the gross reserves amounted 24.7 weeks of goods and services imports, which is more than twice the international standard of 12 weeks.
2. Tourist Arrival - For the month of April, the total tourist arrivals amounted to 272,346 visitors. This outturn reflects an increase of 22.6 per cent over the 222,232 visitors recorded in April 2005. In previous month March 2006, the US stopover visitors amounted to 307.532 persons (275,774 in Mach 2005), or 70.4 per cent of total stopover arrivals.
3. Current Account - For the year 2005, the country posted a current account deficit of US$975M. This shortfall in the current account was US$509.3M worse than the corresponding period in 2004. This outturn was caused by higher merchandise imports that resulted in a US$642.6million in the Goods account.
4. Stock Market - The Main JSE index for four months ended March closed at 88,312.12 declining by 16,198 points over the period. The market capitalisation at the end of April was $723 billion, down by $120.9 since the start of the year. Salada was the top performing stock, with capital gains of little below 85 per cent. The company closed at a trading price of J$18.50 on April 28, 2005, up by $8.49 since December 30, 2005. The worse performers were Guardian Holdings Limited and Mayberry Investment Limited with stock prices declining of 44 per cent and 41 per cent respectively.
5. (365-day BOJ repo rate) - In April 2006, the Bank of Jamaica has announced it's decision to stop issuing its 270-day and 360-day repurchase agreements. Thus, there was no repo rates for tenures over 180-days for the month of April 2006. In addition, the Central Bank has reduced its interest rates for its remaining tenures, between 30 days and 180 days, by 15 or 20 basis points as shown below.
6. Real GDP - The economy during the first quarter, January to March 2006, has grown at 1.4 per cent when compared to the same period in 2005. In addition, the PIOJ estimates that GDP for the second quarter of this year will grow by 1.9 per cent, with the services sector expected to grow by 1.9 per cent while the goods producing sector is expected to remain flat with a marginal decline of 0.1 per cent.
