The Economy
Historically, the Jamaican economy has had an agricultural base,
dependent on a few staple export crops, primarily sugar and bananas.
New economic development began with bauxite mining (after 1952),
and the tourism boom in the 1950s and 1960s. In the 1990s, tourism
has become the major earner of foreign exchange.
The
international recession which occurred in the mid-1970s, adversely
affected economic growth.
Jamaica's economic stabilisation and adjustment process, which began
in the 1980s, advanced significantly during the 1990s as the stages
of deregulation and liberalisation were accelerated. This included
the liberalisation of the foreign exchange market, market determined
interest rates, removal of price controls on goods, elimination
of subsidies on products, lowering of fiscal borrowing requirements,
and increasing the pace of privatisation of government owned entities.
The main impetus for economic growth has come from expansion in
the tourism industry, rehabilitation of export in agriculture, recovery
in the bauxite/alumina industry (after a setback in the 1980s) and
in the service sectors.
In
1995 the economy grew by 0.4%, agriculture by 2.2% in 1995 while
mining, aluminum/bauxite grew by 6.5.% and gypsum by 3.6%.
International Monetary Fund (IMF)
In
September 1995, Jamaica successfully terminated eighteen years of
a borrowing relationship with The International Monetary Fund.
The National Industrial Policy (NIP)
On
Wednesday, March 27, 1996, "The National Industrial Policy
- A Strategic Plan for Economic Growth and Development" was
presented through Parliament to the nation.
The four essential components of the Policy are:
1.
Macroeconomic Policy
2. Industrial Strategy
3. Social Policy
4. Environmental Policy
The
Policy has set specific targets for economic growth and targeted
strategic clusters for development. An integral part of the Policy
is a Social Partnership which sets out agreements by the three social
partners-Government, labour and employees with regard to a number
of areas of economic organisation.
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