Annual Economic and Financial Review -December 2018

2018 Annual Economic and Financial Review

SAINT LUCIA

marginal increase (0.7 per cent) in the previous year. The expansion in the sector’s output was attributable to an estimated 16.9 per cent increase in the output of miscellaneous manufactured articles, supported by growth of 8.9 per cent in the production of manufactured goods. Concomitant with the increase in activity, the sector’s contribution to overall GDP improved marginally to 5.7 per cent from 5.4 per cent in 2017. Agricultural-related activity is tentatively estimated to have recovered when compared with last year’s outturn. Value added in the agriculture, livestock and forestry sector grew by 11.4 per cent, in contrast to a decline of 5.2 per cent recoded in 2017. The sector’s contribution to GDP increased marginally to 2.3 per cent from 2.1 per cent in the prior year. This outturn was largely associated with growth in all the sub-sectors, with the exception of fishing. Output of crops was up by 11.8 per cent in contrast to a decline of 3.4 per cent in the previous year. Enhanced activity in the banana industry, supported by a general increase in acreage under cultivation and active banana farmers, was a key determinant in the performance of the crops sub-sector. Supported by an increase in demand from the United Kingdom market,

banana production grew by 5.8 per cent to 9,413 tonnes, following an increase of 25.5 per cent in 2017. Also contributing to the sector’s overall outturn was an increase of 12.0 per cent in value added from the output of livestock, recovering from a 17.7 per cent decline in 2017. Value added in the construction sector is estimated to have declined by 17.0 per cent in 2018, in contrast to growth of 11.4 per cent recorded in the preceding year. Consequently, construction’s share of GDP fell to 6.3 per cent from 7.6 per cent in 2017. The adverse turn-around in construction activity was partly reflective of declines in the value of construction imports for the year and commercial banks’ lending to the sector. Implementation of planned construction projects was sluggish in both private investments and the public sector. Notwithstanding the general slowdown, work continued on a few tourism-related projects and some infrastructural development in the public sector. Consistent with the fall-off in construction activity, the mining and quarrying sector recorded a decline of 5.8 per cent in 2018, which contrasts growth of 14.6 per cent in the prior year. Of the other major sectors, value added in the wholesale and retail sector

______________________________________________________________________________ 97 Eastern Caribbean Central Bank