(Jamaica Observer) The global economic downturn is hitting home with remittance inflows for the January to March period declining by 15 per cent to US$414.6 million compared to the corresponding period in 2008, the Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ) revealed in a report on Monday.
Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for the first quarter also fell by 2.8 per cent, the PIOJ said at their quarterly economic review.
Remittances, the life blood for many Jamaicans providing routine support for expenses such as school fees, is the country’s highest foreign exchange earner.
“What the drop means is that some people who used to send are not sending anything at all,” consulting psychologist Leachim Semaj commented.
Semaj however, contended that the reduction in remittances, so far, was something to which Jamaicans could adjust arguing that “we were still not close to the 1970s, the most destructive period in our history”.
“The adjustments are well within our limits to absorb,” said Semaj.
Bauxite, another of the island’s top foreign exchange earners, has lost a huge chunk of its revenue since the start of the year pushing the decline in the first quarter GDP.
In fact, smarting from the global crisis, all industries in the local goods producing sector – except agriculture – registered declines for the review period.
“The intensification of the global recession continued to impact the overall performance of the Jamaican economy,” PIOJ Director General Wesley Hughes said at the presentation.
PIOJ data revealed that the goods producing and services industries registered declines of 5.9 per cent and 1.6 per cent, respectively for the review period.
