hl JJ n ECLA/POS 75/4 ECONOMIC ACTIVITY — 1974 — CARIBBEAN COMMUNITY COUNTRIES UNITED NATIONS ECONOMIC COMMISSION FOR LATIN AMERICA OFFICE FOR THE CARIBBEAN \ \ ÇCLA/POS 75/4 / Date; 30 September 1975 ECONOMIC COMMISSION FOR LATIN AMERICA Office for the Caribbean ECONOMIC ACTIVITY - 1974 - CARIBBEAN COMMUNITY COUNTRIES (Prepared by Mr. W.L. Whittingham with the assistance of Mr. H. Francis and Mr. McD0 Rodney - Research Assistants) ERRATA ECONOMIC ACTIVITY - 1974 - CARIBBEAN COMMUNITY COUNTRIES Introduction Page (iii) t Line 3« Sentence should read "All the external trade and production data ..." Part I Third paragraph, last line. After "industries" Page 7 s place full-stop instead of semi-colon. Second paragraph, line 8, Change , 550 mil]ion Page 12 ; to $6,610 million. Line .1.0, Change 143 per cent to read 145 per cent. Page 41 : Line 6. Last word should he "document" and not. "documents" Page 42 : Last paragraph, line 7« Change the per cent from 302 to 297. Line 10. The value figure should read J$129 million instead of #327. Page 46 s Line 4, Insert footnote 11/ after activities" Footnote should read "Review of the Economy of Trinidad and Tobago, 1974." Page 51 ° Table V. Change total exports for 1974 from 6.550c2 to 6,610.2, and percentage change for 1974 from 142,5 to 144..7- Note E, Line 2, After 1973 add "and 1974" Page 52 s Table VI. Change TOTAL (LDC's) - Exports - for 1974 from $224.0 to $284.0, and GRAND TOTAL from $6,550,2 to $6,610,2. Page 58 s Table XI. Please note that the indexes for 1972, 1973 and 1974 are Averages of Monthly Indexes. Place footnote kj next to Montserrat. Page 59 s Table XII. 1974 Exports figures should read 6.610.2 , 2,398.3, 4,211.9 and 108.8. Pages 64-66 s Table XV. Average unit values are in dollars of the country specified. Page 69 ; Table XVI (Cont'd). Note (i)9 line 1. Change the word "Lubricant" to "Lubricating" Part III Page 1 s Footnote 2/, second line. Change "was" to "were" i 4 TABLE OF CONTENTS PREFACE INTRODUCTION PART I A; EVOLUTION FROM CARIFTA TO CARICOM Bî CARICOM ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENTS Summary of Recent Economic Activity The External Sector Inflationary Trends The Petroleum Crisis CARICOM STATISTICAL APPENDIX PART II : BARBADOS COUNTRY NOTES PART III: BELIZE COUNTRY NOTES PART IV : GUYANA COUNTRY NOTES PART V : JAMAICA COUNTRY NOTES PART VI ! TRINIDAD & TOBAGO COUNTRY NOTES PART VII; WEST INDIES ASSOCIATED STATES SELECTED LIST OF STATISTICAL PUBLICATIONS AND SOURCES o PREFACE This is the fourth publication under the title Economic Activity - Caribbean Community Countries- As in previous issues emphasis is placed on the most recent period, in this case 1974, along with the incorporation of revised data for earlier years* In addition, there is some increase in the scope and coverage of the Survey in response to comments on the previous issues. Despite the limitations of the data, the publication bringing together as it does data on all the CARICOM countries, appears to meet some of the needs of Governments and business offices, as well as regional and other organizations interested in economic and social developments in the Caribbean sub-region0 % - ix) INTRODUCTION These country notes and sub-regional summary have been developed from those that were prepared for inclusion in the 1974 Economic Survey of Latin America published annually by the Economic Commission for Latin America (ECLA) AS a result of the avail- ability of and revised data, substantial revisions have been made to some of the country notes and statistical tables originally prepared for the Survey. Similar country surveys for some other Caribbean countries have been prepared by ECLA Mexico Office and ECLA Head Office at Santiago, Chile. The geographical coverage in this document extend* to Barbados« Guyana,. Jamaica, Trinidad and Tnbago, Belize and the Vest Indies l/ Associated States.,—' This coverage corresponds with present participation in the Caribbean Common Market which is a main priority area of responsibility for the ECLA Office for the Caribbean Two major difficulties were encountered in preparing these notes One is the unavailability of current data particularly in the West Indies Associated States and Belize, at the time the Survey must be published. The second is the relatively narrow scope of the statistics that are collected in most of the countries 1/ The West indies Associated States (Antigua, Dominica, Grenada. St. Kitts-Nevis-Anguilla, St, Lucia, St. Vincent and Montserrat) are together an Associate Member of ECLA- Montserrat is included with the West Indies Associated States though strictly speaking its political status is not "„ „ a State m Association with the United Kingdom", Grenada became independent in February 1974, and the Bahamas in July 1973- The latter two countries became full members of ECLA at its 16th Session held in Port of Spain. Trinidad, in May 1975* - (ii) - These factors limit the coverage of the notes and necessitate projections and estimates on the basis of preliminary data. Of the information utilized, monetary and fiscal data and retail price indexes are the most currently available. Official detailed trade statistics are published with at best, an eighteen- month time lag: but in a few of the smaller countries detailed figures are available for 1.972 and 1973- Preliminary global trad" figures such as total exports and imports, however, are available within twelve months of the period of reference. A few adjustments have been made to intra-CARICOM trade data especially where discrepancies have been observed between origins and destinations of goods- and for this reason some differences with national, publica- tions may be noted. In order to arrive at sub-regional aggregates it is necessary to convert much of the data to a single unit of account. The unit chosen is the Eastern Caribbean (EC) dollar which has an exchange rate to the Pound. Sterling of £1 = EC|4,80. Value figures for Bolisse have been converted at the rate Bzeftl.OO^/ = EC$lc20„ The 3/ Trxnidad and Tobago and the Barbados dollar"^ bear a one-to-one relationship with the Eastern Caribbean dollar.-. The Guyana dollar was at par with the EC dollar up to 1971^ As a result of devalua- tion of the Guyana dollar the rate used since 1972 is G$1.00 = EC$0,?2105, The Jamaica dollar was converted at the rate J$1,00 = EC$240 up to 1972. In view of two devaluations of the Jamaica dollar on 1? January and 20 February 1973, it has been necessary to convert figures by a rate which would reflect the variations in the exchange rate during the year. The rate used for 1973 and 1.974 is J$100 = ECI2. 1746.-,-/ 2/ Currency unit now officially designated Belize (Bze) dollar, 3/ On 5 July 1975, the Barbados dollar was alligned to the US dollar at a rate US|lo00 = Bds$2„00. 4/ Calculated essentially as the weighted average of dailj^ selling rates between 1 January and 31 March and average mid-month and end of month rates from March to December. - (iii) - The main sources of the economic and statistical informa- tion used in preparation of the Country Notes are listed at the end of this document. All the external trade production data were supplied by the Statistical Offices, Planning Units, Government Ministries and other national agencies concerned with collection and analysis of these data. The Gross Domestic Product figures for the West Indies Associated States for the early years were derived mainly from data published by the British Development Division in the Caribbean (located at Barbados). Estimates for most recent years were made in the ECLA Office for the Caribbean. The East Caribbean Currency Authority provided the monetary data relating to the West Indies Associated States. In some instances, information on tourism has been furnished directly by national tourist organizations. PART I EVOLUTION FROM CARIFTA TO CARICOM EVOLUTION FROM CARIFTA TO CARICOM The initial step towards the current economic integration efforts in the Caribbean area dates back to the Dickenson Bay- Conference, 1965s which resulted in the first draft Caribbean Free Trade Association (CARIFTA) Agreement- It took another three years before a CARIFTA text acceptable to eleven countries in the sub-region was finalised.:, These trade arrangements which came into operation on 1 May 1968, diverged from the general pattern of more recent trade agreements in that all intra-area trade immediately became free of duty, with only a few specific exemptions. Provisions were incorporated into the Agreement for progressive elimination of duty on the exempted items over specified intervals,: 1/ While the main emphasis was on promotion of intra-regional trade, considerable attention was given to formulating measures in pursuance of the wider objectives of the Agreement to !*o> •-•oarage balanced and progressive development" ...„. "intensify the integration process" ,•.„„.,,. and "ensure that the benefits - . c are equally distributed". The measures eventually agreed were adopted within the framework of the Caribbean Community and Common Market Treaty which superseded CARIFTA from 1 August 1973= In addition to the measures for trade liberalization, arrangements adopted in subsidiary agreements provided for the harmonization of fiscal incentives to industry, the gradual introduction of a common external tariff, the establishment of the Caribbean Investment Corporation (a venture between the private sector and the 1/ For a fuller discussion of the CARIFTA Agreement and the development of CARIFTA and the Caribbean Community, see "Towards Multilateral Economic Co-operation in the Caribbean"; and "The Caribbean Integration Programme ( 1968-1972 )" POS/'INT, 72/8 and POS/INT.. 72/8 Corr.l, and other papers, United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America, Office for the Caribbean; also "CARIFTA and the Commonwealth Caribbean", and From CARIFTA to Common Market, published by the CARIFTA/CARICOM Secretariat, Georgetown, Guyana.