Report shows Cayman’s GDP growth slowed in 2015
(CNS): The growth in the Cayman Islands Gross Domestic Product (GDP) slowed in 2015 compared to 2014, according to the Economic and Statistics Office, which released a number of figures relating to the last fiscal year this week. The Annual Economic Report revealed that the country’s GDP is expected to rise by an estimated 2% in 2015 compared to 2.4% in 2014. “Despite challenges from the global economy, I am pleased that the combined performance of all our productive sectors achieved a growth rate that is higher than expected,” said Minister for Finance and Economic Development Marco Archer.
As of the third quarter of 2015, indicators up to that period suggested that annual growth of gross domestic product (GDP) will be 2% percent.
The 2015 GDP growth, however, is lower than the 2.4 percent achieved in 2014. This performance coincided with the downtrend in global growth from 3.4% in 2014 to 3.1% in 2015, albeit US growth was stable at 2.4%. The slowdown in global growth was due to the performances of China and other developing and emerging market countries.
The country’s GDP per capita in constant prices fell to $44,109 as the mid-year population growth outweighed the GDP growth.
“Economic growth in 2015 was broad-based as all sectors expanded except the hotels and restaurants sector which declined slightly by 0.7% in 2015 as compared to a growth of 4.9% in 2014, mainly due to a slowdown in the growth of stay-over arrivals,” the ESO said.
But the central government recorded its third consecutive year of overall fiscal surplus with $116.1 million in the public purse at the year-end compared to the $93.2 million it managed to earn last year.
The minister said this was achieved by a combination of higher revenue collection and lower overall spending. “The stronger fiscal position allowed the government to reduce its outstanding debt from $534.0 million as at end 2014 to $511 million as at end 2015,” Archer added.
See the full Cayman Islands’ Annual Economic Report 2015 here.
What happened to the stay over tourists? They have finally had enough of the expensive food, drink and ridiculous room prices being charged on this island. Sure some very well off tourist don’t mind but what about the off season? The not so rich would still come and maintain these hotels and rest.
Zika virus is found in Cuba and Fla. they are not losing that much tourists as we are. In fact they are growing in tourists including cruise ship tourists.
Hmmm seems like those “Harvard Economists” over on the opposition bench were on to something! I heard the Minister berate them and proclaim they knew less than he does about economics yet the data seems to back up their arguments that there is no sweet spot and that things are not improving! Perhaps the Govt needs to listen to the opposition members and stop feeling themselves so much
The Olympics and the US Presidential Elections have traditionally had an adverse effect on travel to the Caribbean, albeit the threat of zika may be to our advantage. When you ad Euro 2016 to the equation and the confusion caused by Brexit, we should not be surprised if we end the year with lower arrivals as all of our main source markets are affected by one thing or another.
As far as raising taxes, I believe this Government has been successful in lowering taxes on imports and fuel as well as various license fees, so I am not so sure about the gleeful anticipation of the bottom dropping out.
Why would anyone wish that on Caymanians – unless you are one of those political hopefuls thrashing about for a platform?
We working people are already at rock bottom!
I’d say that the fall in the stay-over revenue is being carefully played down here. We’re not six months into 2016 yet but that downward trend is not only continuing it’s picking up. In fact the Cayman Islands tourism industry is lagging behind just about every other destination in the region and in grave danger of being wiped out when Cuba opens up.
This is all creative accounting. A fall in debt from $534 million to $511 million is, in real terms, about as financially healthy as trying to pay off a maxed out credit card by only making the minimum monthly payment.
The solution is to build a large casino. Even if it is only open to the political elite it will make a huge economic contribution.
Magic word. Say it with me: Recession.
This is something that raising taxes on the suffering people will not fix, but you will do it anyway.
The bottom soon drop out.