Drought conditions during the months of June and July severely impacted agricultural production which weakened the overall performance of the economy for the July to September period. Real GDP was estimated to have contracted by 0.8 per cent, due to a decline in the Goods-Producing Industry, down 5.5 per cent, as the Services Industry grew by 0.6 per cent. This announcement was made by Director General, Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ), Mr. Colin Bullock, during the Institute’s quarterly press briefing, this morning, Wednesday, November 19, 2014, as he provided an update on the performance of the economy and the indicators of well-being that track Jamaica’s progress towards achieving the Vision 2030 Jamaica goals. Implementation of major growth inducing projects, he explained, and initiatives to improve the competitiveness of the business environment, are expected to result in a turnaround in the economy over the short to medium term.
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