PRESS RELEASE
QUARTERLY GROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCT
April - June 2003

November 4, 2003

The April to June 2003 Quarterly Gross Domestic Product report recently released by the Statistical Institute of Jamaica showed that the Jamaican economy grew 0.1 per cent in the second quarter of 2003 over the preceding quarter. All sectors showed positive growth with the exception of, Manufacture, Construction & Installation, Transportation, Storage and Communication and finance and Insurance services.

The productive sector grew by 0.2 percent with Agriculture, forestry and fishing increasing by 0.5 percent and mining and quarrying by 2.7 percent.

Growth in the Agriculture sector was influenced by the performance of the Domestic Agriculture, Livestock, Forestry and Fishing sub-sector that grew by 5.1 percent. The improved weather conditions since the beginning of 2003 and flood relief efforts to rehabilitate farmers had a positive impact on this sub-sector. Manufacturing and Construction and Installation sectors declined by 0.8 percent and 0.1 percent respectively. The Service sector performed relatively flat as all sectors except for Transportation, Storage and Communication and Finance and Insurance Services experienced growth.

When compared to the second quarter of 2002 the overall economy grew by 2.2 percent. Both the Productive and Services sector of the economy recorded growth of 1.8 percent and 2.4 percent respectively.

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