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2018 Annual Economic and Financial Review ST VINCENT AND THE GRENADINES
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Eastern Caribbean Central Bank
External Sector Developments
Despite an improvement in export earnings,
provisional trade data indicate that there
was a deterioration in the merchandise
trade deficit.
The deficit stood at $835.8m (38.1 per cent of
GDP) for the twelve-month period ending
December 2018 relative to a deficit of
$776.2m (36.9 per cent of GDP) one year
earlier.
The widening deficit was mainly the result of
an increase in import payments, which rose by
7.2 per cent to $954.7m. This outturn was the
result of increases in the value from a number
of major import categories, including mineral
fuels and related materials (64.2 per cent),
miscellaneous
manufactured
articles
(16.0 per cent) and animal and vegetable oils
(12.6 per cent). These increases were only
partially offset by declines in the payments for
machinery and transport equipment
(9.6 per cent) and food and live animals
(0.4 per cent). Meanwhile, earnings from
exports recorded positive growth of
3.6 per cent to $118.9m. The expansion in
export receipts reflected higher earnings from
the export of domestic goods which rose by
8.7 per cent to $108.9m, associated in part,
with an expansion in the exports of beer
($7.8m), along with agricultural produce and
some manufactured items such as building
materials to the regional market. These
expansions were tempered by declines in the
export earnings from flour ($2.2m), and rice
($1.5m).
Consistent with the growth in stay-over
arrivals, gross travel receipts are estimated to
have expanded by 9.8 per cent to $281.8m.
Preliminary estimates indicate that the
transactions of commercial banks resulted in a
net outflow of $23.3m in short-term capital
during the twelve months to December 2018,
relative to a net inflow of $24.7m recorded
during the corresponding period of 2017.
Concurrently, external loan disbursements to
the central government rose by $31.3m to
$87.1m during the period, while external
principal payments declined by 1.7 per cent to
$63.6m.