Economic Growth Council Advertorial
September 13, 2017
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Economic Growth Council Advertorial

Economic growth refers to an increase in the market value of the goods and services produced by an economy in a period of time. Economic growth is usually measured by changes in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of an economy. When GDP is divided by population size, the result: GDP per capita, is seen as a measure of the average annual income of that population. The GDP per capita is a useful measure to compare the relative performance of countries. A higher GDP per capita usually indicates a higher standard of living.

Over the period 1962 – 2015 Jamaica experienced an average annual economic growth of 1.6% per annum compared with average annual economic growth of 3.1 per cent for the global economy over the same period. This performance masks the relatively high GDP growth between the period 1962 – 1972.

In more recent times, Jamaica has been on a trajectory of decreasing real GDP growth decade after decade. Over the last 20 years real GDP averaged 0.5% per annum and over the last 10 years GDP growth was 0.2% per annum. GDP per capita was 5137.90 USD in 2015. Jamaica consistently ranks among the slowest growing developing country in the world.