SHAW … Jamaica has been positioned in a whole new light in the eyes of our international creditors
Minister of Finance and the Public Service, Audley Shaw, says that the Jamaican economy is projected to grow by just over one per cent for the 2017/18 fiscal year.
The finance minister admitted last Wednesday that this would fall well below the 2.3 per cent to 2.5 per cent growth he had predicted for 2017/18 up to late last year.
Shaw had predicted that, despite some poor performances earlier in the fiscal year, which he attributed to drought conditions in the last quarter of 2016/17 and floods in the first quarter of 2017/18, there was evidence of growth “rebounding in the current quarter of 2017/18”.
However, with the drought and other negative factors extending into the new calendar year, the minister now admits the likelihood of an approximately one per cent growth for fiscal 2017/18, which ends on March 31.
He admitted at Wednesday’s “Conference on Crime”, held at the Jamaica Pegasus, New Kingston, and hosted by the Financial Investigations Division (FID) – an agency of his ministry – that the growth outcome had been stifled by bad weather conditions and a slower than expected start-up of the Alpart Alumina Plant.
According to Shaw, during the first half of the fiscal year (April-September 2017), Hotels & Restaurants grew by 4.6 per cent, reflecting increased stopover arrivals which were facilitated by increased room stock, increases in the number of flights and in flight frequency.
Electricity & Water Supply was up 1.2 per cent and Other Services up 1.2 per cent, reflecting increased activities in the Recreational, Cultural & Sporting Activities associated with higher visitor arrivals.
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