Jamaica’s exports of alumina surged 57.8 percent, while beverages and tobacco jumped 32.4 percent in January this year, helping to push the country’s export earnings up 16.7 percent over January 2020 to US$117 million, data from the Statistical Institute of Jamaica (STATIN) show.
The increase in exports helps to trim the trade gap for goods along with a decline in imports for January this year.
Imports for the first month of 2021, amount to US$462 million, a decline of 12.1 percent compared to January 2020. “The decline was largely attributable to lower imports of Consumer Goods that fell by 23 percent and Transport Equipment with a decline of 33.4 percent,” Statin reported.
The result of the trade data is that the trade gap narrowed to US$345 million from $412 million in 2020, the second year that the gap narrowed in January, following the narrowing in January last year, from $461 million in January 2019.
A portion of the sharp fall in imports in 2021 is tied to the reduced tourist arrivals in the country as well as curtailment in some other economic activities in the country. As tourism visitor arrival numbers continue to increase, the demand for more imports will grow as well and the trade gap could increase going forward. On the flip side the country will generate more service inflows that will counterbalance any worsening in the trade gap.