2015 National Economic Report Of Bermuda
“While some of the major economic indicators such as employment, air visitors and construction activity declined in 2015, there were many encouraging results regarding international business, employment income, retail sales and balance of payments,” the 2015 National Economic Report of Bermuda said.
The report — which was released along with the 2016 Budget — said, “The Ministry of Finance estimates that Bermuda’s GDP may have increased by 1.5-2.5% in 2015 following the decline of 0.4% in 2014.
“While some of the major economic indicators such as employment, air visitors and construction activity declined in 2015, there were many encouraging results regarding international business, employment income, retail sales and balance of payments. The number of jobs fell by 0.9% and the official unemployment rate was calculated at 7.0% in 2015.”
Chart extracted from the report:
“In the tourism sector, air visitors fell by 1.2% while cruise arrivals rose by 4.2%. Employment in hotels fell by 4.4%. Employment income rose by 1.6% over the first three quarters of 2015 and increased in all major sectors with the exception of Banking, Insurance & Real Estate [0.4%] and construction [11.9%].
“The gross turnover generated by retail stores increased by 2.7% in 2015 while jobs in the sector rose by 0.4%. Over the first three quarters of 2015 the level of construction activity contracted by 41.3% with the value of work put in place falling from $97.9 million in 2014 to $57.5 million in 2015. The value of new projects started rose by 19.3%. Jobs in this industry fell by 1.0% year-over-year.
“The Consumer Price Index [CPI] measured 1.5% for 2015. This level of inflation was below the 2.0% recorded in 2014 and the 1.8% recorded in 2013.”
The full 2015 Economic Report follows below [PDF here]:
The report — which was released along with the 2016 Budget — said, “The Ministry of Finance estimates that Bermuda’s GDP may have increased by 1.5-2.5% in 2015 following the decline of 0.4% in 2014.
How much was due to the crash in oil prices?
“While some of the major economic indicators such as employment, air visitors and construction activity declined in 2015″
This says it all… “Declined”
“There were many encouraging results regarding international business, employment income”
Employment income when up because folk in IB made money. As for the rest of us, we didn’t make more money. Some of us lost our jobs plus inflation keeps going up.