GoJ Rejects Online Post Suggesting Jamaica in Recession

Finance Minister Fayval Williams is rejecting a post by an online account that says Jamaica is currently in a recession.

The account, The Spectator Index, describes itself as a news, media and data platform covering politics, economics, science, tech and sports around the globe.

It is run by Abdul-Latif Halimi, a doctor from Melbourne, Australia.

The account has over two million followers on X.

Kimone Thompson reports.

In a post on X on Monday, The Spectator Index listed Jamaica as one of six countries currently in economic recession. This led to a flurry of tweets from users alerting the account that its post was incorrect.

Among them were cabinet ministers Kamina Johnson Smith and Matthew Samuda.

Johnson Smith, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, wrote: “This is incorrect. Jamaica is NOT in a recession.” Samuda, the minister with responsibility for water, wrote: “This is not accurate and should be withdrawn.”

Then on Tuesday, posting on her X account, Finance Minister Fayval Williams addressed the Spectator Index.

She wrote: “Dear Spectator Index, you don’t have a recession when you have a record low unemployment rate of 3.5 per cent, increased Business Confidence up 13 per cent quarter on quarter and higher Consumer Confidence up 4 per cent quarter or quarter.”

She further noted that nearly 73 per cent of businesses considering it a good time to invest in Jamaica does nor reflect a recession.

Economists agree that for a country like Jamaica, an economic recession would occur when its gross domestic product, GDP, experiences two consecutive quarters of decline.

It means the value of all goods and services produced in the country would shrink for two consecutive periods.

According the more recent data from the Planning Institute of Jamaica, the economy contracted by 3.5 per cent for the July to September quarter of 2024.

That followed a flat 0.2 per cent growth in the previous quarter, which was April to June.

The figures for the economy’s performance for the third quarter of 2024 have not yet been released.

Up to news time on Tuesday, the The Spectator Index had not removed the post or responded to any of the comments.