KINGSTON, Jamaica – Jamaica recorded a 40 percent drop in the poverty rate in 2018, the lowest in a decade.
“Clarke, Nigel”This was disclosed by Minister of Finance and the Public Service Dr. Nigel Clarke in a statement to Parliament last month.
“In 2018, the poverty rate was 12.6 percent, a decline of 6.7 percentage points relative to 2017,” he said. “… This is the lowest rate of poverty since 2008.”
Noting that the figures are contained in the Jamaica Survey of Living Conditions, Clarke said this decline may be attributed to an increase in real gross domestic product (GDP), increase in employment, increase in the proportion of households in the lower quintiles that received remittances, as well as a slowing in the rate of inflation.
DRIVERS
Clarke said in 2018, Jamaica’s economy recorded a GDP growth rate of 1.9 percent, the sixth consecutive year of growth and the highest annual growth rate in 12 years.
The minister pointed to several factors for the improvements.
“The out-turn for 2018 also marked the first time that Jamaica’s GDP level surpassed the levels recorded prior to the global financial crisis,” he pointed out.
In addition, he noted that the mining and quarrying industry grew by 33.8 percent relative to 2017, which represented the strongest growth rate of the mining sector since 1989.Further, the agriculture industry, after a contraction in 2017, which was due to widespread flooding, rebounded to expand by 4.1 percent in 2018.
Additionally, Clarke explained that the construction industry recorded a growth rate of 3.3 percent.
Also, remittance inflows in 2018 rose to $2,345.8 million, compared with $2,305.3 million in 2017.
In addition, as at July 2018, the net number of persons employed increased by 10,300 to 1,222,600, compared with July 2017.
