Jamaica’s growth crawls along at 1.8% PA

Economic growth in the Jamaican grew 1.8 percent in the third quarter of 2018 over the similar quarter of 2017. The performance result in gains in the Goods Producing and the Services Industries.
The goods producing sector grew by a strong 5.1 percent but the services sector was up just 0.7 percent over the similar period in 2017, the report from the Statistical Institute of Jamaica (Statin) stated in their release on the performance on the local economy for the third quarter of the year.
According to Statin, all industries within the Services Industries recorded higher levels of output with the exception of Electricity & Water Supply which declined by 0.1 percent and the Producers of Government Services which remained unchanged for the period. Increases were recorded for: Wholesale & Retail Trade; Repairs; Installation of Machinery & Equipment (0.8 percent ), Hotels & Restaurants (2.1 percent ), Transport, Storage & Communication (1.4 percent ), Finance & Insurance Services (0.7 percent ), Real Estate, Renting & Business Activities (0.5 percent ) and Other Services (1.2 percent ). Hotels & other short-stay accommodation benefited from a 3.8 percent increase in foreign national arrivals, the report stated. The Goods Producing Industries grew due to increased output in Mining & Quarrying, up 51 percent due mainly to the reopening of Alpart refinery and Construction up by 3.7 percent due to increased activities in the civil engineering sub-group. The major contributor to this growth was work associated with the continued expansion of road infrastructure. However, Manufacturing declined by 0.3 percent due mainly to lower production levels, in petroleum refining and non-metallic minerals. Agriculture, Forestry & Fishing remained unchanged. The growth for the third quarter brings real growth for the year to September to 1.8 percent over 2017. Gross domestic product for the calendar year, grew 0.9 percent in 2015, 1.4 percent in 2016 and 1 percent in 2017.