The Minister for the Cabinet Office the Hon. Wayne Furbert, JP, MP, released the Quarter 1, 2020 Quarterly Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by Expenditure from the Department of Statistics today.

Minister Furbert further said, “After adjusting for inflation, the GDP in constant prices for the first quarter decreased by 2.8 percent. This decline in GDP is largely attributable to the onset of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.” 

The Minister continued, “It's clear that COVID-19 is wreaking havoc on the economic and financial plans that countries around the world had prior to the pandemic. In our region, Finance Ministers have had to become extremely innovative in order to: satisfy new demands for financial assistance; ensure there are funds to execute the normal functions of Government; and be poised to stimulate an economic recovery."

The Minister added, “Efforts to reduce the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic in the first quarter included the closure of the L.F. Wade International Airport, bars, nightclubs, cinemas, gyms, schools, restaurant dine-in services, and non-essential retail.  Businesses switched to working remotely and curfew hours were implemented.  These efforts helped to contain the spread of the virus but led to declines in consumption, gross capital formation as well as a fall in receipts from the exports of services."

Highlighted below are the year-over-year changes in the quarterly GDP components:

• Household final consumption decreased 4.0 per cent.
• Government final consumption decreased 5.9 per cent.
• Gross capital formation decreased 8.4 per cent.
• The external balance on trade in goods and services increased 1.7 per cent.

The Quarter 1, 2020 Quarterly GDP by Expenditure publication is available online at https://www.gov.bm/quarterly-gross-domestic-product.