Fifty-nine percent of business contemplate closure – JMEA Survey: CARICOM BUSINESS
Some 59% of Jamaican businesses have been considering temporary or permanent closure of business.
That is one of the findings of a Jamaica Manufacturers and Exporters Association (JMEA) Productive Sector COVID-19 Impact Survey conducted April 28 to May 22, 2020. The responses were garnered from the JMEA’s membership base. In making the disclosure at a Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica online seminar, JMEA President Richard Pandohie, also noted that 57% of the membership received new business opportunities from the crisis during the survey period (export and essential sanitation items) and 22% started producing new items.
Nevertheless, 51% temporarily reduced staff, with some 14% laying off 20 – 50% of staff during the survey period. In the meantime, JAMPRO President Diane Edwards spoke to a 40% decline in FDI in Jamaica for 2020, whereas Central Bank Governor Richard Byles projected a reduction in net foreign currency inflows ranging between US$800m to US$1.4 billion for 2020. MSME enterprises contribute some 50 – 60 % of GDP in Jamaica. (CB)
Extract from the CARICOM BUSINESS Newsletter Vol. 3 No. 33.
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