Tourism shores up Jamaica`s economy

The Jamaican government announced a 3 percent economic growth from April to June this year as a result of a revved-up farming industry and an outstanding increase in tourism and bauxite mining.

In a report read before the Jamaican Parliament, minister of information Burchell Whitman pointed out aluminum production jumped to 639,900 tons between May and June this year for a strong 9.1 percent, while bauxite output shot up to 692,700 tons for a much heftier 23.6 percent compared to the same period of time in 2002.

However, the manufacturing industry was the one sector that skidded half a percentage point between April and June, Mr. Whitman explained.

The Jamaican Information Minister pointed fingers at devaluation-stricken exchange rates as the main reasons behind the spike in oil prices and heavier taxes levied on such commodities as cigarettes and alcohol.

This Caribbean island nation of over 2.5 million inhabitants is basically banking its annual exports on the bauxite industry. The deposits of this mineral in the central part of the country are no doubt the most plentiful on the planet.

Moreover, the nation has deposits of other such minerals as plaster, lead and salt. Other export strongholds are sugar, rum, textiles and coffee, with high demand in Great Britain, the U.S., Venezuela and Canada.