5:58 pm, Thu December 31, 2020
The Jamaican economy declined by more than 10 per cent in the third quarter of 2020 when compared to the similar quarter of 2019.
The 10.7 per cent decline reported by the Statistical Institute of Jamaica (STATIN) on Thursday is lower than the Planning Institute of Jamaica s estimate last month of an eleven point three percent contraction.
STATIN said the downturn was due to declines in of 13.1 per cent in the Services industry and 3.5 per cent in the Goods Producing industry.
According to STATIN, the economy was impacted by the continued spread of the COVID-19 pandemic and the measures implemented to limit its spread.
Dennis
MOTHER OF four Opal Dennis has come across several women in the last few weeks who are worried about not being able to purchase gifts for their children, spruce up their homes or prepare a triple-course meal on Christmas Day.
Dennis, a leader of the Women’s Empowerment Group in the Lyndhurst/Greenwich community, sympathises with these women, but she also cautioned them against allowing their inability to purchase “the bling” this Christmas to frustrate them.
“You know it’s COVID time and things are not bright; and sometimes you see people worrying and they talk about it a lot. You know they are not working and it’s Christmas and nothing not going on, so that is pressure pon pressure,” she said.
Ryan Parkes (right), chief of Business Banking at JN Bank, presents Lisa Grant, director of Group Legal Services and Administration at Technological Solutions Limited, with the Pauline Grey Award for Best Support Service, during the 2020 Jamaica Manufacturers and Exporters Association Awards, which was held virtually on Thursday.
Richard Pandohie, president of the Jamaica Manufacturers and Exporters Association (JMEA), has said that the sector must play a pivotal role in Jamaica and rise higher and stronger post-COVID-19.
He was speaking during the virtual JMEA Awards Gala recently, which saw several major companies taking home top awards.
Pandohie said that while Jamaican manufacturers and exporters have been adapting to their new realities brought on by the global pandemic, the sector still has a far way to go in achieving its full potential.