NEWS RELEASE
QUARTERLY GROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCT
Third Quarter 2005

January 16, 2006,

The Gross Domestic Product for the Third quarter of 2005, released by the Statistical Institute of Jamaica showed that the Jamaican economy grew by 0.6 percent when compared to the second quarter of 2005. This occurred despite the impact of Hurricanes Dennis and Emily, Which adversely affected the Performance of some sectors during the quarter. The Productive Sector increased by 2.7 percent while the Services Sector fell by 0.5 percent.

When compared to the third quarter of 2004, the gross domestic product at constant prices grew by 2.9 percent. This performance reflected in part recovery from the impact of Hurricane Ivan in the previous year. All sectors except the Miscellaneous Services Sector experienced growth during the period. The decline in the Miscellaneous Sector reflected the fall in Hotels, Restaurants and Clubs sub-sector, which was adversely affected by an active hurricane season.