Jamaican economy suffers; growing bauxite industry provides a little relief

The continued lagged impact of the drought which prevailed last summer has been blamed for the poor performance of the Jamaican economy during fiscal year 2014-15, with the Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ) estimating expansion of a mere 0.1 per cent.

The performance was largely driven by a decline in agriculture, which contracted by 0.4 per cent for the full year and fell by 0.5 per cent during the period January to March 2015.

In the half-year period before the drought in June and July, agriculture had expanded by 17 per cent.

PIOJ Director General Colin Bullock suggested that major infrastructure projects have to be advanced both to enhance growth and to ensure that adverse shocks do not as easily make growth approximate zero per cent.

Bullock reported that for the period January to March, real gross domestic product (GDP) was estimated to have grown by 0.3 per cent.

Real value added for the mining and quarrying industry rose by 0.2 per cent, supported by higher production of alumina and crude bauxite of 0.2 per cent and 8.2 per cent, respectively. The enhanced performance of the industry was attributed to increased global demand for aluminum, of which alumina is an input.

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