PIOJ director James Stewart, PIOJ Director General Dr Wayne Henry and PIOJ Programme Director Elizabeth Emanuel at the organisation’s headquarters in New Kingston yesterday. (Photos: Bryan Cummings)
The Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ) has projected growth in the Jamaican economy for financial year 2017/18 in the range of 0.5 per cent to 1.5 per cent.
Director General of the PIOJ Dr Wayne Henry said that the economy’s performance during the October-December quarter of 2017/18, with an estimated growth of 1.1 per cent, was the strongest quarterly growth recorded during calendar year 2017/18.
That level of growth brought real GDP growth for the calendar year 2017 to 0.5 per cent, the fifth consecutive year of growth. However, it also represented a lower-than-projected performance compared to initial growth forecast which was within the one per cent to two per cent range.
“This performance was way below expectations, as downside risks to growth, cited at the beginning of the year, materialised,” Dr Henry admitted.
The downside risk he referred to included: weather -related shocks, which negatively impacted some industries, mainly agriculture; and plant down-time due to technical problems with equipment at some plants.
Dr Henry said that realisation of these critical supply-side constraints highlighted the need to place more focused efforts on the implementation of climate change mitigation strategies.
He said that these include, for example, protected agriculture (greenhouses) and irrigation systems to foster greater resilience and sustainability in domestic agricultural production. Additionally, he said that the retooling of plants to reduce plant downtime due to technical problems is of critical importance.
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