GDP (PPP):
$25.4 billion
1.1% growth>
0.5% 5-year compound annual growth
$8,976 per capita
Unemployment: 13.3%
Inflation (CPI): 3.8%
FDI Inflow: $855.9 million
Jamaica’s economy is mixed but increasingly based on services, notably tourism and finance. Since independence in 1962, the country has developed markedly but unevenly. Mining and manufacturing became more important to
the economy in the latter part of the 20th century, while the export of agricultural commodities declined. Starting in the 1980s, the state reduced its role as a major player in the economy, partly because structural
adjustment and economic liberalization favoured private enterprise as the engine of economic growth. In the 1990s, however,
a financial crisis necessitated government bailouts of some faltering industries and financial institutions.
