Jamaica: Trade, Integration and the Quest for Growth

Date issued
Mar 2005
Jamaica is a small, open island economy with one of the highest trade/GDP ratios in the Western Hemisphere. Because trade plays such a dominant role in the Jamaican economy, it also substantially determines the country¿s development prospects. Successful participation in the global economy through enhanced international competitiveness, trade facilitation and related measures should therefore be a central aim of the Inter-American Development Bank¿s support strategy for Jamaica, particularly at a time when the country is facing the rapid erosion of trade preferences long enjoyed by its exporters in major world markets.