Economy Grew in 2015 – PIOJ

The Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ) has reported that the country recorded an estimated growth of 0.8 per cent for the 2015 calendar year.

Director General, Colin Bullock, in a quarterly economic press briefing at the PIOJ offices on March 3, told media personnel  that this growth of real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) represents an improvement of performance over the previous year, when there was growth of 0.5 per cent.

“The growth recorded for the calendar year (also) reflects a strengthening of performance in the second half of the year, when there was an estimated growth of 1.0 per cent, up from 0.5 per cent in the first half,” he said.

Mr. Bullock said for 2015, the goods producing industry grew by 1.1 per cent and the services industry was estimated to have grown by 0.6 per cent.

Meanwhile, the industries which recorded the largest growth during the year were manufacturing, which is up by 2.4 per cent; hotels and restaurants, up 2.0 per cent; electricity and water, up 1.5 per cent; and transport, storage and communication, which grew 1.1 per cent.

Mr. Bullock, in detailing the country’s economic performance in the October to December 2015 quarter, said there was an estimated real GDP growth of 0.6 per cent.

“This performance represented the fourth consecutive quarter of growth and largely reflected higher value-added in both the services and goods producing industries. This was due to, firstly, the resumption in operation of the industrial plants within the manufacturing industry, which were partially closed in the corresponding quarter of 2014,” he said.

Mr. Bullock said that development positively influenced production in the petroleum products and beverages components of the industry. There was also increased electrical consumption and the implementation of strategic infrastructure projects, involving road repair works and highway construction, hotel construction and expansion, and the construction of new office space to facilitate expansion of Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) activities.

He further noted that the economic performance of the country had been constrained by drought conditions from the previous quarter, as well as production down-time, associated with reduced demand from major purchasers of Jamaican bauxite.