The Jamaican economy grew by 6.3% for the July-September 2021 quarter relative to the similar quarter in 2020, reflecting continued recovery in most sectors, except mining, growth estimates from the Planning Institute of Jamaica, PIOJ, reveal. The mining sector declined 31% given the closure of a...

Anticipating recovery in oil and gas production, the IMF is projecting growth for Trinidad and Tobago of 5.7% and headline inflation of 2.4% in 2022. These projections reflect the findings of the recently concluded Article IV consultations, which projected a decline in real GDP of 1% for 2021, ho...

In its first 12 months, the work from home in Bermuda (WFB) certificate has had an estimated value-added of $23.3 million to the economy. According to Labour Minister, Jason Hayward, 638 people took up the scheme and 206 families still lived on the island as a result. The initiative was launched ...

Barbados registered economic growth of 10% during July-September 2021 relative to the corresponding period in 2020. However, for the first 9 months of the year economic activity is estimated to have been approximately 3.2% below the corresponding period in 2020. Indeed at end-September, the gross...

Jamaica’s tourism continues to rebound strongly amid the coronavirus pandemic as is reflected in the US$1.7 billion in earnings since the reopening of the country’s borders in June 2020. Since that time, Jamaica has received 1,285,368 visitors — including 8,381 cruise passengers. According to Tou...

The Bank of Jamaica (BOJ) has raised its policy interest rate by 100 basis points to 1.50% as inflation breached the upper limit of the bank’s target range in August. However the action will “moderate” the economy’s growth potential. The policy interest rate has stood at a historic low of 0.5% si...

The US-based rating agency Moody’s downgraded the sovereign creditworthiness of The Bahamas slashed the country’s long-term issuer and senior unsecured ratings to ‘Ba3’ from ‘Ba2, a day after the general election. Moody’s, in maintaining a “negative outlook” on The Bahamas, justified the downgrad...

Jamaica’s total spending on Imports for January – May 2021 amounted to US$2,249.3 million, an increase of 12.0% relative to the same period in 2020. This increase was mainly attributable to higher imports of Fuels and Lubricants (42.7%) and Raw Materials / Intermediate Goods (13.8%). Total export...

A new “Economic Survey of Latin America and the Caribbean” report released by ECLAC raised its growth forecast for the Region from 5.2% in July to 5.9%. Despite the encouraging improvement, these figures remain below par to bounce back from 2019's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) with the Caribbean posi...

Tourism interests in Barbados are now viewing the upcoming 2021/22 winter tourism season optimistically based on the latest statistics from the Barbados Tourism Marketing Inc. (BTMI). During July 2021, some 10,819 visitors travelled to Barbados, a significant increase of 6,745 visitors compared t...