The Strategic Policy and Planning Department (SPPD) announced today that imports for the first half year increased by 8.5%.
The Turks and Caicos Islands Merchandise imports totaled approximately $208 million for the first half of 2015, representing an increase of $16.3 million or 8.5% when compared to the same period last year. Exports from the Turks and Caicos Islands during this period were valued at $2.1 million when compared to $3.8 million during the first half of 2014. This resulted in an overall merchandise trade balance of approximately -$205.9 million during the first half of 2015 and the worsening of the overall trade balance by more than 10.4 percent or $9.6 million.
“Due to the current growth that is taking place in the tourism sector, the attraction of direct investment, the projected growth in the construction sector of the TCI economy and the lack of a more diversified group of exports, it is likely that the trade imbalance will continue to increase in the foreseeable future,” stated Acting Director of SPPD, Mr. Shirlen Forbes.
“The rising imports however, could be looked at in a positive light. As a country with high value of imports, the increase in imports may also be reflecting the uptick in activity taking place in the TCI economy, showing that Turks and Caicos consumers are buying and developing more. Evidence of this can be seen in the increase of motor vehicle imports by 61.5% during the first half of 2015 when compared to the same period last year.
“This undoubtedly reflects the significant increase in motor vehicles from Asia. Motor vehicles imports at the Grand Turk Port and Providenciales South Dock Port increased by 112.4% and 110% respectively. The increase in motor vehicle imports made Machinery and Transport equipment, by far the largest expenditure, amounting to $58.2 million, or 28.0% of total imports when analyzing the data using Standard International Trade Classification (SITC).”
Given the performance of Merchandise trade during the 1st half of this year, SPPD is forecasting that imports will increase by more than 22% for the 2015 calendar year, whereas exports will experience a decline of more than 5 percent.
