Talk:Economy of Jamaica

Jamaican Government economic policies encourage foreign investment in areas that earn or save foreign exchange, generate employment, and use local raw materials. The government provides a wide range of incentives to investors, including remittance facilities to assist them in repatriating funds to the country of origin; tax holidays which defer taxes for a period of years; and duty-free access for machinery and raw materials imported for approved enterprises. Free trade zones have stimulated investment in garment assembly, light manufacturing, and data entry by foreign firms. However, over the last 5 years, the garment industry has suffered from reduced export earnings, continued factory closures, and rising unemployment. This may be attributed to intense competition, absence of NAFTA parity, drug contamination delaying deliveries, and the high cost of operation, including security costs. The Government of Jamaica hopes to encourage economic activity through a combination of privatization, financial sector restructuring, reduced interest rates, and by boosting tourism and related productive activities.

IMF

More should be said about loans, the banana industry, the social problems caused by IMF loans as well as the other side of the story of the free trade zones...--86.104.203.91 22:44, 12 January 2007 (UTC)

Ney York? I think the opening line should be Jamaica....

Economy of Jamaica

Hello,

I am doing a paper on the Jamaican economy & I have been referring to the Wikipedia page entitled "Jamaica" for information. I make reference to the following portion of it:

"Recent economic performance shows the Jamaican economy is recovering. Agricultural production, an important engine of growth increased 15.3% in third quarter of 1998 compared to the corresponding period in 1997, signaling the first positive growth rate in the sector since January 1997. Bauxite and alumina production increased 5.5% from January to December, 1998 compared to the corresponding period in 1997. January's bauxite production recorded a 7.1% increase relative to January 1998 and continued expansion of alumina production through 2009 is planned by Alcoa.[96] Jamaica is the fifth largest exporter of bauxite in the world, after Australia, China, Brazil and Guinea. Tourism, which is the largest foreign exchange earner, showed improvement as well. In the third quarter of 1998, growth in tourist arrivals accelerated with an overall increase of 8.5% in tourism earnings in 1998 when compared to the corresponding period in 1997. Jamaica's agricultural exports are sugar, bananas, coffee, rum,and yams.

Jamaica has a wide variety of industrial and commercial activities. The aviation industry is able to perform most routine aircraft maintenance, except for heavy structural repairs. There is a considerable amount of technical support for transport and agricultural aviation. Jamaica has a considerable amount of industrial engineering, light manufacturing, including metal fabrication, metal roofing, and furniture manufacturing. Food and beverage processing, glassware manufacturing, software and data processing, printing and publishing, insurance underwriting, music and recording, and advanced education activities can be found in the larger urban areas. The Jamaican construction industry is entirely self-sufficient, with professional technical standards and guidance.[97]

Since the first quarter of 2006, the economy of Jamaica has undergone a period of staunch growth. With inflation for the 2006 calendar year down to 6.0% and unemployment down to 8.9%, the nominal GDP grew by an unprecedented 2.9%.[98] An investment programme in island transportation and utility infrastructure and gains in the tourism, mining, and service sectors all contributed this figure. All projections for 2007 show an even higher potential for economic growth with all estimates over 3.0% and hampered only by urban crime and public policies.

In 2006, Jamaica became part of the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME) as one of the pioneering members.

The global economic downturn had a significant impact on the Jamaican economy for the years 2007 to 2009, resulting in negative economic growth. The government implemented a new Debt Management Initiative, the Jamaica Debt Exchange (JDX) on 14 January 2010. The initiative would see holders of Government of Jamaica (GOJ) bonds returning the high interest earning instruments for bonds with lower yields and longer maturities.The offer was taken up by over 95% of local financial institutions and was deemed a success by the government. Owing to the success of the JDX program, the Bruce Golding-led government was successful in entering into a borrowing arrangement with the IMF on 4 February 2010 for the amount of US$1.27b. The loan agreement is for a period of three years. [99]"

The article was updated a few days ago, however it appears as though no recent information was added, especially for the last three years. May Jamaicans are not of the view that recent economic performance shows the Jamaican economy is recovering. But after the article mentioned that, I was expecting it to now discuss what has been happening recently & it went back to information from the 90s. Secondly, it speak about the bauxite industry as if it's thriving. The bauxite industry has been in a state of ruins for years. Many jobs were lost as a result, and some of those who were employed in the sector have found job opportunities abroad. I don't know if the tourism sector has "improved" since a few hotels have closed their doors putting many out of jobs. Additionally, Jamaica has been plagued by high levels of crime increasingly, which is a major deterrent for tourists. Thirdly, there is almost no way that Jamaica has to-date experienced "staunch growth since 2006" and employment and inflation rates are down. Many many persons have lost jobs, and the dollar is continually sliding to ridiculously high amounts. The article also spoke about the JDX in 2010, but there have been recent unfoldings with the IMF and the citizens of Jamaica are very uneasy and uncomfortable with these arrangements made by the government. I hope this will help in reviewing and improving this article.

Regards,

Sanderson — Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.194.112.88 (talk) 05:36, 29 November 2013 (UTC)

Possible Vandalism

GDP       $2000.18 zillion (3012 est. PPP)

These might be typos; I wasn't sure whether to include "PPP" although I don't recognize the initials. I also didn't examine the rest of the page for more like them. Dick Kimball (talk) 14:06, 17 January 2014 (UTC)

GDP by sector    agriculture: 6.6
                 %; industry: 29.9%; services: 63.5%
                 (201 est.)

OK, here's more, including the line feed in 6.6%. Dick Kimball (talk) 14:57, 17 January 2014 (UTC)

Average Income

Hi! There's something on this article that is baffling me and decided to create an account on here just to confirm that this is right or maybe get some clarification.

In the sidebox it says the average gross (presumably monthly) salary is 272,604 Jamaican dollars. This converted to USD would be $2,353. However, the 2012 gdp per capita is stated to be $9,199, which divided by 12 (months) comes to just $767. I know gdp per capita and average income aren't exact equivalents, but what I fail to grasp is how the latter could be more than three times the former!

Furthermore, if one visits the citation for average income, it seems to in fact give 152,971 JMD as the average monthly salary, although even this would come out to $1,320 monthly, or almost double the gdp per capita.

Anyone have any clue what might be up with this?