Jamaicans have Low Confidence in the Economy

Confidence in the Jamaican economy remained low for the first quarter of 2013 despite an uptick in business confidence.

The Jamaica Chamber of Commerce Survey on the business and consumer confidence indices for the first quarter of 2013 show that confidence in the business sector has risen to an index of 95 since the last quarter of 2012 which saw an index of 92.3.

This is still significantly lower than the 123 recorded for the same quarter of last year.

Head of Market Research Services Don Anderson, who conducted the survey, says the low growth in business confidence resulted from the low expectations of the business community on investment returns, outlook on Jamaica’s economy, as well as the limited possibility of investments.

Mr. Anderson says consumers have a less positive outlook on the economy due to the implementation of government fiscal policies, the falling value of the Jamaican Dollar, meagre income increases and the availability of jobs.

He explained the reason for this drastic change in the comparison between this year and last year to the victory of the People’s National Party in the general elections in December 2011, which caused consumers and business person to have had higher expectations.

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