24.05.2014 Views

Tropical Storm Nicole - Planning Institute of Jamaica

Tropical Storm Nicole - Planning Institute of Jamaica

Tropical Storm Nicole - Planning Institute of Jamaica

SHOW MORE
SHOW LESS

Create successful ePaper yourself

Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.

Transport, Storage & Communication industries grew by 2.0 per cent and 1.2 per cent, respectively,<br />

while all the other services industries are projected to grow by 0.7 per cent. Activities in the Hotels<br />

& Restaurants industry is being buoyed by modest recovery in tourism activities as economic<br />

conditions in the major source markets improve.<br />

F. PROJECTED PERFORMANCE AFTER THE EVENT, OCTOBER – DECEMBER 2010<br />

1. Impact on GDP<br />

Given the economy’s performance in the January-June 2010 and July-September 2010 periods, GDP<br />

growth <strong>of</strong> 0.7 per cent was projected for the October–December 2010 quarter, driven mainly by<br />

Mining & Quarrying; Hotels, Restaurants & Clubs; and Transport, Storage & Communication. This<br />

projection was made against the background <strong>of</strong> several risks factors, including:<br />

• sluggishness in economic recovery<br />

• weather-related conditions which accompany the annual hurricane season<br />

Despite this, a downward revision in the GDP growth rate was necessitated, given the reported<br />

damage sustained mainly by agriculture and infrastructure (electricity, water, roads). An expansion<br />

<strong>of</strong> 0.7 per cent in GDP is expected, a detraction <strong>of</strong> 0.2 percentage point from 0.9 per cent forecasted<br />

prior to TS <strong>Nicole</strong>. The expansion in the growth rate in the October-December 2010 quarter,<br />

reflected increased value added <strong>of</strong> 1.5 per cent and 0.2 per cent in the Goods Producing and<br />

Services Industries, respectively (Table 25).<br />

While growth projections for sub industries within the Services industry remained unchanged,<br />

growth prospects for Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing, Mining & Quarrying sub-industries within<br />

the Goods Producing Industry were revised downwards. In the area <strong>of</strong> Agriculture, decline in the<br />

magnitude <strong>of</strong> 5.0 per cent is projected, overturning the earlier projection <strong>of</strong> 2.0 per cent growth.<br />

The anticipated outturn is consistent with the destruction to domestic crops. These domestic crops<br />

are mainly short term, which, if were replanted immediately could come into bearing in the October-<br />

December 2010 quarter. However, because <strong>of</strong> the persistent rains and the threat <strong>of</strong> other hurricanerelated<br />

systems the farmers’ effort <strong>of</strong> replanting these crops were hampered. The Ministry <strong>of</strong><br />

Agriculture has put in place several measures to reduce the impact <strong>of</strong> the storm and minimize the<br />

expected shortages in crop production. These include:<br />

72

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!