JN Fund Managers’ Daily Market Update -January 27, 2020

According to the latest release from STATIN, Jamaica’s trade deficit for January to October 2019 was US$3.98B, 12.0% higher than the January to October 2018 deficit of US$3.55B. The worsened trade balance was a combined result of an increase in the country’s import bill and a reduction in exports. Jamaica’s import bill climbed to $5.35B for January – October 2019, an increase of 4.7% over the US$5.11B for January – October 2018. The factors contributing to the increase in imports were “Food” up by 14.1%, “Machinery and Transport Equipment” up by 8.4%, “Miscellaneous Manufactured Articles” up by 14.3%, and “Mineral Fuels, Etcetera” up by 1.6%. Revenues from exports de-clined by 12.0% from US$1.56B for January – October 2018 to US$1.37B for January – October 2019. The factors contributing to the decline in exports was a 20.6% reduction in traditional domestic exports, which was marginally improved by the 4.9% increase in non-traditional exports.

We believe that Jamaica’s trade deficit could continue to rise amid a global economic slowdown, geopolitical tensions and trade uncertainties that could further curtail the de-mand and depress prices for the country’s traditional exports.

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