The trade balance with the CARICOM region narrowed sharply during the first two months of 2013 as Jamaica imported US$41 million less goods form countries in the region compared with the previous year. Not only did imports enjoy a major decline, exports held up well and was virtually the same as the year before period with a mere marginal decrease of US$0.7 million or 6.5 percent.
The country imported US$98 million worth of goods from CARICOM, a decrease of 29.5 per cent. Expenditure on “Mineral Fuels, etcetera” fell by US$50 million or 51 percent to US$48 million. “Food” grew by US$6.9 million to US$30 million. “Beverages & Tobacco” were valued at US6 million, roughly the same as in 2012 period, the Statin report on the trade data indicated.
Total exports to the region fell by to US$10 million during the 2013 review period. Exports of domestically produced goods accounted for US$8.8 million, down from US$9.2 million in the comparable 2012 period. Re-exports fell to US$1.5 million. The major groups of domestic exports were “Food”, valued at US$5.2 million, and “Beverages & Tobacco” worth US$1.7 million. These two sub-categories increased by 9.0 per cent and 27.4 per cent respectively.
The trade deficit with CARICOM during February 2013 fell by US$40.3 million to US$ 87.6 million. This was due to decrease importation of “Mineral Fuels, etcetera” during the current review period.
[…] Related posts | Big drop in trade deficit | CARICOM balance narrows sharply […]