Diversifying Jamaica’s economy in the post-pandemic world

I enjoyed reading this piece in the Oxford Business Review on barriers to growth and development in the Jamaican economy.

It is an excellent mini case study for Edexcel Theme 4 macro.

Jamaica is heavily dependent on tourism (the sector contributes over 30% of their GDP) and also on the US economy for their economic strength. Inevitably, the pandemic has wreaked havoc on an economy already struggling to overcome a number of structural supply and demand-side issues.

One example are restrictive trade agreements including those governing all-inclusive tourist packages are holding back their farm sector and contributing to very high import dependency.

Jamaica has one the lowest economic growth rate of developing countries. Persistently low wages contribute to a brain drain of younger workers.

Many are critical of the conditionality applied by the IMF when agreeing to emergency loans to help cover their very large fiscal and external trade deficits.