Economy starting to turn around - PIOJ

Three industries registered positive growth during the July to September quarter, a period for which the Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ) has seen indications that the economy is on the rebound.

The strong-performing industries were mining and quarrying; tourism and agriculture; and forestry and fishing.

Figures released by the PIOJ, during its quarterly media briefing in Kingston yesterday, attributed the 31.1 per cent increase in the mining and quarrying industry to the reopening of the Windalco plant in Ewarton, St Catherine, and increased production by Noranda Bauxite Company.

Improved weather conditions saw agriculture, forestry and fishing achieving six per cent growth during the quarter.

Growth in hotel sector

Other agricultural crops saw an 11.8 per cent increase and traditional export crops shot up by 8.2 per cent.

The hotel and restaurant sectors, the only service industries recording growth during the period, registered a 6.7 per cent increase in total visitor arrivals. Stopover arrivals increased by 3.4 per cent, while cruise-ship arrivals were up 16.5 per cent.

The PIOJ, which attributed the economy's otherwise poor perfor-mance to the global recession's lingering effects, stated that total gross domestic product (GDP) stood at -0.5 per cent during the quarter. GDP is the value of all goods and services produced locally.

Over the period, there was also a decline in total electricity generation, which fell by 7.4 per cent.

PIOJ Director General Dr Gladstone Hutchinson said despite a marginal contraction in the Jamaican economy during the quarter, select indicators revealed that the economy was starting to turn around.

Hutchinson said labour-market reports for the month of July showed an increase of 21,300 new jobs when compared with 6,000 for the corresponding period last year.

He noted that, barring any further shocks, the PIOJ anticipated the economy would achieve positive GDP growth in the last quarter of the current fiscal year. He stressed, though, that this growth would be low and insufficient to result in any sustained job recovery.

Hutchinson cautioned against being optimistic about any positive recovery during the October to December quarter, which would reflect the effects of the west Kingston security operations, as well as Tropical Storm Nicole.

The inflation figure for the quarter under review was 1.3 per cent due to increased prices in the categories food and non-alcoholic beverages, as well as miscel-laneous goods and services.