Jamaica Economy 1997

Economy - overview Key sectors in this island economy are bauxite (alumina and bauxiteaccount for more than half of exports) and tourism. Since assuming officein 1992, Prime Minister PATTERSON has consolidated the market-oriented reforms initiated by his predecessor, Michael MANLEY, to make Jamaica a regionalleader in economic reform. PATTERSON has eliminated most price controls, streamlinedtax schedules, and privatized government enterprises. Tight monetary and fiscalpolicies under an IMF program have helped slow inflation and stabilize theexchange rate, but, as a result, economic growth has slowed down and unemploymentremains high. Jamaica's medium-term prospects depend largely on its abilityto continue to attract foreign capital and to limit speculation against theJamaican dollar.

GDP purchasing power parity - $8.4 billion (1996 est.)

GDP - real growth rate 0.5% (1996 est.)

GDP - per capita purchasing power parity - $3,260 (1996 est.)

GDP - composition by sector
agriculture : 8.1%
industry: 36.2%
services: 55.7% (1995 est.)

Inflation rate - consumer price index 17% (1996 est.)

Labor force
total: 1,062,100
by occupation: services 41%, agriculture 22.5%, industry 19%, unemployed 17.5% (1989)

Unemployment rate 15.4% (1994 est.)

Budget
revenues: $1.45 billion
expenditures: $2 billion, including capital expenditures of $732 million (FY95/96est.)

Industries bauxite, tourism, textiles, food processing, light manufactures

Industrial production growth rate NA%

Electricity - capacity 848,400 kW (1995)

Electricity - production 5.829 billion kWh (1995)

Electricity - consumption per capita 2,014 kWh (1995 est.)

Agriculture - products sugarcane, bananas, coffee, citrus, potatoes, vegetables; poultry, goats,milk

Exports
total value: $1.4 billion (f.o.b., 1996 est.)
commodities: alumina, bauxite, sugar, bananas, rum
partners: US 47%, UK 11%, Canada 9%, Norway 7%, France 4% (1993)

Imports
total value: $2.8 billion (f.o.b., 1996 est.)
commodities: machinery and transport equipment, construction materials, fuel, food,chemicals
partners: US 54%, Japan 4.0%, Mexico 6%, UK 4%, Venezuela 3% (1993)

Debt - external $4.2 billion (1995)

Economic aid
recipient: ODA, $239 million (1993)

Currency 1 Jamaican dollar (J$) = 100 cents

Exchange rates Jamaican dollars (J$) per US$1 - 34.952 (December 1996), 37.120 (1996),35.142 (1995), 33.086 (1994), 24.949 (1993), 22.960 (1992)

Fiscal year 1 April - 31 March

NOTE: The information regarding Jamaica on this page is re-published from the 1997 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Jamaica Economy 1997 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Jamaica Economy 1997 should be addressed to the CIA.