Year: 2010

The Jamaica Diaspora Annual Roundup for 2010: the Haiti earthquake of 12 January kills an estimated 230,000 people and triggers the Caribbean diaspora’s largest ever humanitarian response; the Dudus/Christopher Coke extradition crisis rocks Jamaica’s governance standing; the UK general election produces the first coalition government in 65 years; FIFA World Cup South Africa unites the diaspora; and the 4th Biennial deepens diaspora institutions.

Full-year 2010 GDP contracts 1.4 per cent — a second consecutive year of negative growth but the smallest decline since…

The Housing Sector Plan is an integral part of Jamaica’s Vision 2030, aiming to position Jamaica as a developed country…

Property tax arrears in Jamaica attach to the land, not to the owner, which means a buyer who purchases a property with outstanding tax liabilities inherits those liabilities. This report examines how tax arrears create hidden encumbrances, what the Tax Administration Jamaica process is for recovering unpaid property tax, and how buyers can protect themselves.

Two years after the financial crisis had frozen Jamaica’s coastal development boom, the final quarter of 2010 offered a moment to take stock of what the boom had left behind. The resorts were built, the beaches had been narrowed, the access corridors were uncut, and the environmental conditions that had been baseline when the boom began were now significantly altered. What would recovery mean, and who would pay for it?

St Lucia and St Vincent begin Hurricane Tomas reconstruction as the Caribbean holiday season 2010-11 opens, with Barbados’s new PM Stuart consolidating his leadership and property markets ending the year cautiously.

Barbados mourns Prime Minister David Thompson who died in office October 23, as Hurricane Tomas devastates St Lucia and St Vincent in the final days of October.

As 2010 draws to a close, Jamaica’s housing market has stabilised and is showing genuine recovery signals — though high commercial rates and inflation still constrain the market’s potential.

Elevated inflation and stubborn mortgage costs are testing the resilience of Jamaica’s housing market even as the broader economy begins a tentative recovery.

In the fourth quarter of 2009, Jamaica needed three things simultaneously: a new Bank of Jamaica governor, a deal with the IMF, and some evidence that the economy might eventually stop contracting. It got all three. The governor arrived in December, the IMF agreement was initialled days later, and the GDP figures, when finally tabulated, confirmed that 2009 had produced a 3.4 percent contraction — the worst in a generation. Whether the deal would deliver recovery was another question entirely.

Eight months after the JDX and four months after the Tivoli Gardens crisis, Jamaica’s housing market is stabilising but not recovering. This review assesses what the year’s twin shocks have meant for buyers, developers and the diaspora that sustains Jamaica’s informal housing economy.

Jamaica Economic Intelligence | Q3 2010 | July–September 2010 Key Findings Stopover tourism surpasses pre-crisis levels; full-year arrivals set to…

Publication date: 5 October 2010 | Covering: July – September 2010 Quarterly Briefing FRESH — Bernanke Jackson Hole August 27:…

The Caribbean’s most active 2010 hurricane season in years renews focus on property insurance resilience, while T&T tables its 2011 budget and investors pivot to year-end planning.

As Jamaica’s mid-year fiscal review approaches, the property market weighs improving monetary conditions against persistently high commercial mortgage rates and a cautious construction pipeline.