Economy - overview:
The Jamaican economy is heavily dependent on services, which now account for more than 60% of GDP. The country continues to derive most of its foreign exchange from tourism, remittances, and bauxite/alumina. Remittances account for nearly 15% of GDP and exports of bauxite and alumina make up about 10%. The bauxite/alumina sector was most affected by the global downturn while the tourism industry was resilient, experiencing an increase of 4% in tourist arrivals. Tourism revenues account for roughly 10% of GDP, and both arrivals and revenues grew in 2010, up 4% and 6% respectively. The Economic growth faces many challenges: high crime and corruption, large-scale unemployment and underemployment, and a debt-to-GDP ratio of more than 120%. Jamaica's onerous public debt burden - the fourth highest in the world on a per capita basis - is the result of government bailouts to ailing sectors of the economy, most notably to the financial sector in the mid-to-late 1990s. In early 2010, the Jamaican government created the Jamaica Debt Exchange (JDX) in order to retire high-priced domestic bonds and significantly reduce annual debt servicing. The Government of Jamaica signed a $1.27 billion, 27-month Standby Agreement with the International Monetary Fund for balance of payment support in February 2010. Other multilaterals have also provided millions of dollars in loans and grants. Despite the improvement, debt servicing costs still hinder the government's ability to spend on infrastructure and social programs, particularly as job losses rise in a shrinking economy. The HULNESS administration faces the difficult prospect of having to achieve fiscal discipline in order to maintain debt payments, while simultaneously attacking a serious crime problem that is hampering economic growth. High unemployment exacerbates the crime problem, including gang violence that is fueled by the drug trade.
GDP (purchasing power parity): GDP (official exchange rate): GDP - real growth rate: GDP - per capita (PPP): GDP - composition by sector: Labor force: Labor force - by occupation: Unemployment rate: Population below poverty line: Household income or consumption by percentage share: Distribution of family income - Gini index: Investment (gross fixed): Budget: Taxes and other revenues: Budget surplus (+) or deficit (-): Public debt: Inflation rate (consumer prices): Central bank discount rate: Commercial bank prime lending rate: Stock of narrow money: Stock of broad money: Stock of domestic credit: Market value of publicly traded shares: Agriculture - products: Industries: Industrial production growth rate: Electricity - production: Electricity - consumption: Electricity - exports: Electricity - imports: Oil - production: Oil - consumption: Oil - exports: Oil - imports: Natural gas - production: Natural gas - consumption: Natural gas - exports: Natural gas - imports: Natural gas - proved reserves: Current account balance: Exports: Exports - commodities: Exports - partners: Imports: Imports - commodities: Imports - partners: Reserves of foreign exchange and gold: Debt - external: Exchange rates:
NOTE: 1) The information regarding Jamaica on this page is re-published from the 2012 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Jamaica Economy 2012 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Jamaica Economy 2012 should be addressed to the CIA.
$24.58 billion (2011 est.)
country comparison to the world: 117
note: data are in 2011 US dollars
[see also: GDP country ranks ]
$14.7 billion (2011 est.)
[see also: GDP (official exchange rate) country ranks ]
1.5% (2011 est.)
country comparison to the world: 175
[see also: GDP - real growth rate country ranks ]
$9,000 (2011 est.)
country comparison to the world: 116
note: data are in 2011 US dollars
[see also: GDP - per capita country ranks ]
agriculture: 5.8%
[see also: GDP - composition by sector - agriculture country ranks ]
industry: 29.5%
[see also: GDP - composition by sector - industry country ranks ]
services: 64.7% (2011 est.)
[see also: GDP - composition by sector - services country ranks ]
1.324 million (2011 est.)
country comparison to the world: 133
[see also: Labor force country ranks ]
agriculture: 17%
[see also: Labor force - by occupation - agriculture country ranks ]
industry: 19%
[see also: Labor force - by occupation - industry country ranks ]
services: 64% (2006)
[see also: Labor force - by occupation - services country ranks ]
12.7% (2011 est.)
country comparison to the world: 133
[see also: Unemployment rate country ranks ]
16.5% (2009 est.)
[see also: Population below poverty line country ranks ]
lowest 10%: 2.1%
[see also: Household income or consumption by percentage share - lowest 10% country ranks ]
highest 10%: 35.8% (2004)
[see also: Household income or consumption by percentage share - highest 10% country ranks ]
45.5 (2004)
country comparison to the world: 38
[see also: Distribution of family income - Gini index country ranks ]
20.5% of GDP (2011 est.)
country comparison to the world: 113
[see also: Investment (gross fixed) country ranks ]
revenues: $3.982 billion
[see also: Budget revenues country ranks ]
expenditures: $4.744 billion (2011 est.)
[see also: Budget expenditures country ranks ]
27.1% of GDP (2011 est.)
country comparison to the world: 109
[see also: Taxes and other revenues country ranks ]
-5.2% of GDP (2011 est.)
country comparison to the world: 154
[see also: Budget surplus (+) or deficit (-) country ranks ]
126.5% of GDP (2011 est.)
country comparison to the world: 8
[see also: Public debt country ranks ]
7.7% (2011 est.)
country comparison to the world: 160
[see also: Inflation rate (consumer prices) country ranks ]
2% (31 December 2010 est.)
[see also: Central bank discount rate country ranks ]
14.3% (31 December 2011 est.)
country comparison to the world: 37
[see also: Commercial bank prime lending rate country ranks ]
$1.543 billion (31 December 2011 est.)
country comparison to the world: 133
[see also: Stock of narrow money country ranks ]
$6.026 billion (31 December 2011 est.)
country comparison to the world: 120
[see also: Stock of broad money country ranks ]
$7.426 billion (31 December 2011 est.)
country comparison to the world: 104
[see also: Stock of domestic credit country ranks ]
$6.626 billion (31 December 2010)
country comparison to the world: 76
[see also: Market value of publicly traded shares country ranks ]
sugarcane, bananas, coffee, citrus, yams, ackees, vegetables; poultry, goats, milk; crustaceans, mollusks
tourism, bauxite/alumina, agro processing, light manufactures, rum, cement, metal, paper, chemical products, telecommunications
-2% (2010 est.)
country comparison to the world: 157
[see also: Industrial production growth rate country ranks ]
7.323 billion kWh (2008 est.)
country comparison to the world: 101
[see also: Electricity - production country ranks ]
6.4 billion kWh (2008 est.)
country comparison to the world: 105
[see also: Electricity - consumption country ranks ]
0 kWh (2009 est.)
[see also: Electricity - exports country ranks ]
0 kWh (2009 est.)
[see also: Electricity - imports country ranks ]
505.7 bbl/day (2010 est.)
country comparison to the world: 109
[see also: Oil - production country ranks ]
63,000 bbl/day (2010 est.)
country comparison to the world: 91
[see also: Oil - consumption country ranks ]
0 bbl/day (2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 179
[see also: Oil - exports country ranks ]
90,520 bbl/day (2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 67
[see also: Oil - imports country ranks ]
0 cu m (2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 198
[see also: Natural gas - production country ranks ]
0 cu m (2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 191
[see also: Natural gas - consumption country ranks ]
0 cu m (2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 121
[see also: Natural gas - exports country ranks ]
0 cu m (2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 209
[see also: Natural gas - imports country ranks ]
0 cu m (1 January 2011 est.)
country comparison to the world: 150
[see also: Natural gas - proved reserves country ranks ]
-$2.367 billion (2011 est.)
country comparison to the world: 156
[see also: Current account balance country ranks ]
$1.65 billion (2011 est.)
country comparison to the world: 145
[see also: Exports country ranks ]
alumina, bauxite, sugar, rum, coffee, yams, beverages, chemicals, wearing apparel, mineral fuels
US 34%, Canada 15.8%, Norway 9.4%, UK 6.6%, Netherlands 6.1% (2010)
$6.356 billion (2011 est.)
country comparison to the world: 111
[see also: Imports country ranks ]
food and other consumer goods, industrial supplies, fuel, parts and accessories of capital goods, machinery and transport equipment, construction materials
US 32.6%, Venezuela 15%, Trinidad and Tobago 14.5%, China 4.6% (2010)
$2.45 billion (31 December 2011 est.)
country comparison to the world: 112
[see also: Reserves of foreign exchange and gold country ranks ]
$13.83 billion (31 December 2011 est.)
country comparison to the world: 85
[see also: Debt - external country ranks ]
Jamaican dollars (JMD) per US dollar -
2) The rank that you see is the CIA reported rank, which may habe the following issues:
a) They assign increasing rank number, alphabetically for countries with the same value of the ranked item, whereas we assign them the same rank.
b) The CIA sometimes assignes counterintuitive ranks. For example, it assigns unemployment rates in increasing order, whereas we rank them in decreasing order
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This page was last modified 07-Mar-12