Annual Economic and Financial Review -December 2018

2018 Annual Economic and Financial Review

DOMINICA

the value added in the mining and quarrying sector is estimated to have increased by 10.0 per cent. Supported by the increased activity in the construction sector, performance in key supporting sectors improved. Transport, storage and communications, which contributed 15.8 per sent to total output, grew by 2.4 per cent as upsurges in road and sea transport more than offset the contraction observed for air transport. The wholesale and retail sector, which contributed 14.5 per cent to total output, grew by 15.0 per cent in 2018, partially reflecting the re-opening of businesses whose operations were impeded by the hurricane and the emergence of new ones. Expansions in public administration, defence and compulsory social security (5.0 per cent); and financial intermediation (1.9 per cent) also contributed to the marginal growth in economic activity. Moderating the increase in total output, activity in the productive sectors registered contractions. Value added in the agriculture, livestock and forestry sector is estimated to have deteriorated by 11.6 per cent, reflecting declines in contributions from all sub-sectors. More specifically, total value added in the banana sub-sector fell by 29.4 per cent while that of non-banana crops including root crops

and citrus fell by 10.0 per cent. This outturn was influenced by the destruction of crops and limited access to farms in the wake of hurricane Maria and the resultant need for replanting. Similarly, value added in the livestock and forestry sub-sectors fell by 20.0 per cent and 10.0 per cent respectively, each also impacted by the hurricane. Accordingly, the sector’s contribution to total GDP fell to 10.9 per cent from 11.7 per cent in 2017. The hotels and restaurants sector, a proxy for activity in the tourism industry, is estimated to have contracted for the fourth consecutive year, by 41.9 per cent in 2018.

The sustained contraction in the sector was partly a reflection of natural disasters, tropical storm Erika and hurricane Maria, in 2015 and 2017 respectively. The total number of

______________________________________________________________________________ 47 Eastern Caribbean Central Bank