Jamaica's Trade Deficit Fell by 4.1% for 2023

• Jamaica’s total spending on imports for January to December 2023 was valued at US$7,592.1Mn, while earnings from total exports were valued at US$2,001.8Mn as reported by the Statistical Institute of Jamaica (STATIN). 
• For the twelve months, the value of imports fell by 1.8% when compared to the US$7,731.2Mn spent in 2022. This decrease was largely impacted by lower spending on imports of “Raw Materials/Intermediate Goods” and “Fuels and Lubricants”, which declined by 4.6% and 14.6%, respectively.
• The lower imports of “Raw Materials/Intermediate Goods” were driven by lower expenditure on ‘Industrial Supplies’, ‘Construction Materials’ and ‘Food (incl. Beverages) Mainly for Industries’. The decline in expenditure on imports for 2023 came after consecutive years of increases from 2020 to 2022.
• However, revenues from exports for 2023 increased by 5.3% compared to US$1,901.4Mn earned in 2022. This performance is a continuation of the trend since 2020. The increase in exports for 2023 was due primarily to a 77.6% increase in the exports of “Crude Materials (excl. Fuels)”.
• Domestic exports increased to US$1.521.9Mn, 11.3% above the US$1,367.4Mn for 2022. Consequently, the trade deficit at the end of 2023 decreased by 4.1% to US$5,590.3Mn when compared to US$5,829.8Mn in 2022.
• The five main trading partners for 2023 were the United States of America (USA), China, Brazil, Japan and Colombia. Expenditure on imports from these countries fell by 2.0% to US$ 4,628.6Mn in 2022. This was due largely to lower imports of “Mineral Fuels”.
• The top five destinations for Jamaica’s exports were the USA, Puerto Rico, Latvia, the Russian Federation, and Iceland. Export revenues from these countries increased by 1.2% to US$1,347.9Mn due to higher exports of Alumina.

 (Source: STATIN)