Cayman spends $1.7B in 2015

| 07/07/2016 | 10 Comments

Cayman News Service(CNS) Updated: Government statisticians have revealed that Caymanians and residents consumed $1,697.07 million worth of goods and services last year, as the results of the 2015 Household Budget Survey were published Wednesday. This is more than 36% higher than spending during the last survey eight years ago. The report by the Economics and Statistics Office estimated that per capita consumption was $28,411 in 2015 but there was, as expected, very significant differences between the consumption of those at the top of the socio-economic pile compared to the bottom.

The ESO said the ranking of the population’s spending per head showed that the lowest 20% had an average annual spend of $9,564 while the highest quintile was around eight times that, with an estimated average expenditure of $73,637.

There was also a considerable difference between the average overall spend between people on Grand Cayman and those on Cayman Brac and Little Cayman. People on the Sister Islands spent almost $8,000 a year less than their fellow countrymen on Grand Cayman.

The total consumption for 2015 was 36.5% higher than the $1,243.11 million the people spent in 2007 – the year before the market crash and a boom year of recovering following Hurricane Ivan in 2004.

Minister for Finance and Economic Development Marco Archer said, “The increase is partly due to population growth of approximately 1.4 % annually between 2007 and 2015, and partly due to an increase in per capita consumption.”

The highest increase in spending was on alcohol and tobacco (up 18.5%), restaurant and hotels (up 11.6%), and transport, which increase more than 10%.

“These are general indications of lifestyle changes among residents,” Archer stated. The price of alcohol and tobacco has increased significantly however over the eight years since the last survey.

Officials said expenditures associated with basic needs was almost stable, with spending on health, housing and utilities, food and non-alcoholic beverages all growing less than one percent. The slow growth for the housing division was attributed to the decline in spending on maintenance and repairs, after the normalization of such expenses compared to the 2007 post-hurricane Ivan level. Expenditure for furnishings, household equipment and routine household maintenance also declined annually by 1.7% from 2007 level.

“The variation in consumption expenditures growth resulted to significant changes in the spending pattern of the average resident in the Cayman Islands between 2007 and 2015,” Archer noted.

Housing and utilities remains the largest consumption division but its share has been reduced to 32.9% from 39.1% in 2007. Transport, which includes the purchase of vehicles, is now the second largest household expenditure, with a 16.4% share, replacing miscellaneous goods and services.

The full survey, which can be viewed here, covered all 12 months of 2015 and generated a response rate of 83% among 1,216 sample households in Grand Cayman and the Sister Islands.

For more details visit www.eso.ky

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Comments (10)

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  1. Anonymous says:

    Yeah-how much did they save? Mostly big fat zero- it expensive to live in paradise mon!

  2. Anonymous says:

    What’s the “personal loan” level at these days. In 2010 it was running at over CI$900,000,000!!!

    Scary stuff.

  3. ANTI says:

    Alcohol and Cigarettes spending up 18%. By the unspoken but clearly visible spread of alcoholism among your own people… Why do we need statistics? People are depressed, broke and are resorting to numb their troubles with these addictive substances.

    This should be an alarm more than anything.

    But pacifying Cayman people on these addictions serves the masters well.

  4. Anonymous says:

    Oh I agree with you 100% on that.

    If you see the supermarket employees down the ailes with those electronic machines in their hands, the only thing they are doing is jacking up cost 2% weekly on all products on the shelves.

    “Cayman Legal Cartels” is such an appropriate name for our local
    supermarket owners and our fuel suppliers down on South Church Street.

    Many big mouth politicians that beat their gums daily in the LA about cost of living, is the same big share holders in CUC.

    Talk about a conflict of interest, but it’s all legal because they claim parlimentary privilege.

  5. Anonymous says:

    How much was taken back in stamp duty and bank service fees?

  6. Anonymous says:

    I would have thought that a large swing like that has more to do with the 1,000 people chosen for the survey, rather than the actual consumption of the 1,000 people changing. Given the small sample, the small population and the huge range of answers I’m not sure the numbers can be used for anything useful.

    • Anonymous says:

      statics from small study groups and then extrapolated, usually are poor, and can give a wide range of results.

      AN example would be in the 1,000 people in the study all live on Seven Mile Beach, compared to a thousand in West Bay.

    • Uncivil Servant says:

      Nothing that comes from the ESO is worth the paper it is written on. Their sampling is fundamentally flawed across the board.

  7. Anonymous says:

    Whilst some of this can be put down to population growth the majority is without doubt from price ripping by the supermarket and gasoline cartels.

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