Economy
OAG: Lack of overall economic plan puts Cayman at risk
(CNS): The failure of successive governments to develop an overall strategic economic plan to finish the much overdue National Development Plan or to manage the country’s population surge is putting its future at risk, the Office of the Auditor General found in a report published Thursday. Even though Cayman’s economy is strong, largely due to […]
Cayman GDP increased to 3.6% in first quarter of 2024
(CNS): Economic activity in the Cayman Islands, as measured by the gross domestic product (GDP) in real terms, is estimated to have increased by 3.6% in the first three months of 2024 as the country continued its road to recovery after the 2020 pandemic which decimated the tourism sector for over two years.
Local jobless rate at 4.9% as workers grow to 62k
(CNS): The significant growth in the workforce over the last year has done little to assist the local unemployment rate, which was still running at 4.9% at the end of April. According to the results of the ESO’s Spring 2024 Labour Force Survey, over 61,000 people are currently in work, an increase of 6.5% compared […]
First CIG report released on state of cruise tourism
(CNS): The Economics and Statistics Office has released a report on the impact of cruise tourism on Cayman’s economy, based on data from the Florida Caribbean Cruise Association, the Port Authority of the Cayman Islands and the Department of Tourism. The document looks at government revenue from cruise tourism, how much passengers spend while ashore, […]
GDP grows by 4.2%, nears CI$71k per capita in 2023
(CNS): The Cayman Islands’ real gross domestic product (GDP) expanded by an estimated rate of 4.2% last year, a slight decline from the growth of 5.2% in 2022. The nominal GDP per capita income was estimated at $70,985 for 2023 even though, according to the last Labour Force Survey, well over 60% of the working […]
2024 Inflation rate slows but COL still crippling families
(CNS): In the second quarter of 2024, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) was 132.7, which is 1.7% more than the second quarter of 2023, with eight out of the twelve divisions recording higher price indices. And while the rate of inflation may be slowing, given the historic highs over the last few years and the […]
Non-oil imports grow 3.6% to over $1.31 billion
(CNS): The total value of goods imported into the Cayman Islands last year was $1.53 billion, an increase of 2% over the previous year, according to the Foreign Trade Report 2023 produced by the Economics and Statistics Office. The value of non-petroleum products grew by 3.6% from 2022 to over $1.31 billion, while the value […]
Inflation rate at odds with real life experience
(CNS): The first quarter inflation rate for 2024 was 1.5% above the rate for the first three months of 2023 and around 0.3% higher than the rate at the end of the year, according to the Economics and Statistics Office. But with inflation running so high in the Cayman Islands over the last three years, […]
McTaggart makes pitch to voters over economy
(CNS): Ten months ahead of the expected start of the 2025 election campaign, Opposition Leader Roy McTaggart has begun campaigning in earnest based on the party’s previous time in office. In a political message, McTaggart, who was finance minister during the last PPM administration, claimed that his party had successfully managed the economy when in […]
Growth in WPs undermining economic growth
(CNS): Recent revelations from the 2023 Fall Labour Force Survey about the size of the workforce and the increase in local unemployment to over 5% from just over 3% last year while work permit numbers remain high raise questions about the health and sustainability of Cayman’s economy. Last year, the economy grew by about 4% […]
Cayman continues to import a huge volume of vehicles
(CNS): According to the unaudited Third Quarter Economic Report 2023 covering government earnings and spending up to the end of September, a significant boost to the surplus at the time came from fees on imported motor vehicles. The earnings surpassed budget expectations by $7.8 million due to the volume of vehicles being imported. While the […]
