Report by the WTO Secretariat

Jamaica’s economy, which is dependent on alumina, tourism, remittances, and its large informal sector, is highly tradeoriented. Exports and imports of goods and services have represented on average over 90% of GDP since 2005. During the review period, Jamaica has continued to struggle with a narrow production structure and vulnerability to external climatic and economic shocks. These shortcomings were exposed starkly during the recent global economic slowdown, which severely impacted the Jamaican economy, resulting in declines of real GDP of 1.7% in fiscal year 2008/09 and 2.5% during 2009/10 as well as marked decreases in earnings from the export of goods and services and from remittances.