es; the shift in investment portfolios to
non-productive, short-term high yield instruments; a pressured,
sometimes sliding, exchange rate; a widening merchandise trade
deficit; and a growing internal debt for government bailouts to
various ailing sectors of the economy, particularly the financial
sector. Depressed economic conditions in 1999 led to increased civil
unrest, including a mounting crime rate. Jamaica's medium-term
prospects will depend upon encouraging investment in the productive
sectors, maintaining a competitive exchange rate, stabilizing the
labor environment, selling off reacquired firms, and implementing
proper fiscal and monetary policies.

GDP: purchasing power parity - $8.8 billion (1999 est.)

GDP - real growth rate: -0.5% (1999 est.)

GDP - per capita: purchasing power parity - $3,350 (1999 est.)

GDP - composition by sector:
agriculture: 7.4%
industry: 42.1%
services: 50.5% (1997 est.)

Population below poverty line: 34.2% (1992 est.)

Household income or consumption by percentage share:
lowest 10%: 2.4%
highest 10%: 31.9% (1991)

Inflation rate (consumer prices): 9.4% (1999 est.)

Labor force: 1.13 million (1998)

Labor force - by occupation: services 60%, agriculture 21%, industry
19% (1998)

Unemployment rate: 15.5% (1998)

Budget:
revenues: $2.27 billion
expenditures: $3.66 billion, including capital expenditures of $1.265
billion (FY98/99 est.)

Industries: tourism, bauxite, textiles, food processing, light
manufactures, rum, cement, metal, paper, chemical products

Industrial production growth rate: NA%

Electricity - production: 6.386 billion kWh (1998)

Electricity - production by source:
fossil fuel: 92.7%
hydro: 2.21%
nuclear: 0%
other: 5.09% (1998)

Electricity - consumption: 5.939 billion kWh (1998)

Electricity - exports: 0 kWh (1998)

Electricity - imports: 0 kWh (1998)

Agriculture - products: sugarcane, bananas, coffee, citrus, potatoes,
vegetables; poultry, goats, milk

Exports: $1.4 billion (f.o.b., 1999 est.)

Exports - commodities: alumina, bauxite, sugar, bananas, rum

Exports - partners: US 39.5%, EU (excluding UK) 15.6%, UK 12.1%,
Canada 11.5% (1998)

Imports: $2.7 billion (f.o.b., 1999 est.)

Imports - commodities: machinery and transport equipment, construction
materials, fuel, food, chemicals, fertilizers

Imports - partners: US 50.9%, EU (excluding UK) 9.5%, Caricom
countries 10.4%, Latin America 6% (1998)

Debt - external: $3