Foreign investment into Jamaica up by 20 percent -CLARKE

Foreign investment into Jamaica up by 20 percent -CLARKE

July 11, 2018 0 By Horace Mills

Minister of Finance and the Public Service Dr Nigel Clarke said data has confirmed that the number of investments coming into Jamaica from overseas is heading in the right direction.

He explained: “According to data provided by the Bank of Jamaica, for fiscal years 2016/17 and 2017/18, the average Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) was 20 percent higher than average FDI over the fiscal years 2012/13 to 2015/16.

“FDI fluctuates on a year over year basis and, by definition, FDI can be lumpy with one-off anomalies. To get a better picture of the trend or the direction of FDI, it is better to look at averages over periods of time. Averages smooth out one-off aberrations. The latest trend shows that FDI is moving in the right direction, this period being 20 percent higher than the previous,” added Dr Clarke, who is at Frankfurt in Germany leading a delegation on the European leg of Jamaica’s Investor Road Show.

He, in the meantime, said one way to get a good sense of investment into the Jamaican economy is to look at the importation of capital goods.

Capital goods, Dr Clarke explained, consists of equipment and machinery used in production of goods and services.

“The higher the importation of capital goods, the more investment for future production, manufacturing and growth;” he noted.

“The 2017/18 fiscal year saw capital goods importation rise above US$1 billion for the first time in several decades, compared with 2015 when capital goods importation was just over US$500 million,” the minister continued.

“In fact, when you compare the period 2012/13 to 2015/16 with the period 2016/17 to 2017/18, Bank of Jamaica data show that average annual importation of capital goods has increased by 84 percent. This kind of movement is hugely significant and is consistent with what we know: there is heavy investment in the production, manufacturing, construction, energy, infrastructure, logistics and tourism sectors which is an excellent indicator for the Jamaican economy.”

Dr Nigel Clarke. File photo

Another indicator that the minister referenced was bank loans, combined with capital market credit to the non-financial private sector.

“While this measure hovered between 33 percent and 34 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) between December 2013 and December 2015, total private sector borrowing jumped to 40 percent of GDP by December 2017. This again reflects increasing investment in the Jamaican economy which augurs well for the future,” added Dr Clarke.


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