budget statement 2012.indd - Grenada Customs & Excise Division

Last year, the US economy is estimated to have grown by only 1.8
percent leading to only a modest decline in the US unemployment
rate from 9.1 percent to 8.8 per cent.
The UK, an important tourist market for the Caribbean is estimated to
have grown by only 0.9 per cent.
The economies in the Euro Zone were depressed as governments
there intensified austerity measures to contain a fiscal and debt crisis.
GDP is estimated to have expanded by only 1.6 per cent.
Emerging and developing economies grew by 5.9 percent compared
with 6.2 percent the previous year. This performance was led by
China which grew by 9.2 percent compared with 10.2 percent a year
earlier and India which grew at 7.4 percent in contrast to 9.9 percent
the previous year.
So what are the immediate prospects for the global economy?
Based on the World Economic Outlook 2011, global output is
projected to expand by 3.25 percent in 2012.
The USA is expected to grow by 1.8 percent while the UK and Canada
are projected to grow by 1.3 percent.
It is now confirmed that the Euro-zone is back in recession and will
contract by 0.5 percent this year. Unemployment there is now at an
all time high of 10.7 percent.
Mr. Speaker, these global prospects demand that small open economies
like Grenada become even more creative in findings ways to
sustain our development.
2.2 Recent Economic Performance of CARICOM
In its report on the economic performance of Latin America and the
Caribbean for 2011, the United Nations Economic Commission for
Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) notes I quote:
2012 Budget Statement Page 3