Jamaica economy grew by 4.8%

This was attributed to a 7.2 per cent increase in the Services Industries, despite a two per cent decline in the Goods Producing Industries.

The details were provided by STATIN’s Director General, Carol Coy, during the Institute’s virtual quarterly media briefing on Tuesday (October 18).

Ms. Coy said the second calendar year quarter out-turn was influenced by the revocation of the Disaster Risk Management Order, the expiration of the COVID-19 pretest requirement for travel to Jamaica, and the entertainment sector’s reopening.

“When compared to the first quarter of 2022, that is January to March, total value added… increased by 1.3 per cent, a continuation of the trend observed since the third quarter of 2020,” she said.

The growth in the services industries was spurred by improvements in all eight subsectors, led by ‘Hotels and Restaurants’, up 56 per cent.

Ms. Coy said growth in this subsector was driven by a 79.2 per cent increase in foreign national arrivals during the review period.

The ‘Wholesale and Retail Trade, Repairs, Installation of Machinery and Equipment’ subsector grew by 7.6 per cent, while ‘Transport, Storage and Communication’ rose by 5.7 per cent.

The ‘Other Services’ subsector, which includes entertainment and tourism-related activities, grew by 9.8 per cent; ‘Finance and Insurance Services’ climbed by 1.1 per cent; ‘Real Estate, Renting and Business Activities’ increased by 2.1 per cent; ‘Producers of Government Services’ was up 0.4 per cent, with ‘Electricity and Water Supply’ going up by two per cent.

Ms. Coy said the decline in the Goods Producing Industries was largely due to lower outputs in ‘Mining and Quarrying’, which contracted by 62.5 per cent, and ‘Construction’, down 5.2 per cent.

“The continued closure of the JAMALCO (Jamaica Aluminium Company) plant adversely affected the performance of the mining and quarrying industry,” she stated.

Ms. Coy pointed out, however, that there were increases in ‘Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing’, and ‘Manufacturing’, which grew by 6.3 per cent and 5.6 per cent, respectively.