For November 2001, the current account of the balance of payments recorded a deficit of US$79.2MN, an improvement of US$6.8MN, relative to the deficit recorded for November 2000. The out-turn for the month reflected improvements in the balances for the trade and current transfers sub-accounts, as the services and income balances deteriorated relative to November 2000.
The deficit on the merchandise trade account narrowed by US$18.0MN to US$133.9MN, compared with
November 2000. This improvement reflected the overall effect of a US$44.7MN contraction in payments for imports (f.o.b.) and a US$26.7MN decline in earnings from exports. The reduction in imports stemmed mainly from a reduction of US$31.7MN in the value of fuel imports (c.i.f.), as well as respective declines of US$4.4MN and US$2.5MN in consumer goods and capital goods imports. The decline in exports was influenced by a contraction of US$26.9MN in alumina exports, associated with the closure of the Jamalco mining plant, which was partly offset by an increase of US$13.1MN in non-traditional exports. An increase in garment exports was the primary factor influencing the improvement in non-traditional exports.
The surplus of US$14.9MN on the services account for the review month was US$17.4MN lower than the surplus recorded for November 2000. This decline reflected a contraction of US$24.9MN in net travel receipts, consequent on the events of 11 September.
Relative to November 2000, the deficit on the income account widened by US$2.6MN to US$31.2MN. This performance reflected an increase in net investment income payments of US$3.7MN, primarily associated with higher interest payments on Government of Jamaica foreign debt.
For November 2001, net receipts from current transfers grew by US$8.8MN to US$71.0MN, relative to the comparable month of 2000. The improvement was attributed to an increase of US$8.9MN in net inflows to the private sector.
Within the financial account, net private investments amounting to US$107.3MN almost financed net official outflows of US$27.6MN, as well as the deficit on the current account. In this context, there was a marginal draw down of US$0.4MN in the net international reserves of the Bank of Jamaica.

The current account recorded a deficit of US$437.9MN for the period April to November 2001 , relative to the deficit of US$275.6MN for the corresponding period of 2000. With the exception of the current transfers, all the sub-accounts contributed to the deterioration in the review period.
The deficit on the merchandise trade account for the review period widened by US$91.7MN to US$1040.0MN, relative to the deficit recorded for April to November 2000. This performance reflected the combined effect of a
US$57.9MN increase in imports and a decline of US$33.8MN in export earnings. The growth in imports reflected increased payments of US$48.7MN and US$17.7MN for capital goods and raw material imports, respectively.
Increased payments for communication equipment contributed to the growth in capital goods imports, while the higher raw material imports emanated from higher purchases of parts for the national airline, industrial supplies for the productive sector, and inputs for food processing. A contraction of US$37.1MN in garment exports accounted for the decline in earnings from exports during the review period.
The services account recorded a surplus of US$310.9MN for the period April to November 2001, a decline of
US$37.5MN relative to the surplus in the comparable period of 2000. This out-turn primarily reflected a contraction of US$45.9MN in net travel receipts, which was associated with the social disturbances of July and the events of 11 September.
The deficit on the income account widened by US$60.3MN for the review period, influenced by increased imputed profit remittances of the foreign direct investment companies, as well as higher interest payments on Government of Jamaica foreign debt.
Net receipts from current transfers amounted to US$572.3MN for the review period, US$27.2MN above the figure recorded for April to November 2000. The growth in net inflows from current transfers reflected an increase of
US$98.7MN in net inflows to the private sector. This improvement was, however, partly offset by a decline of
US$71.5MN in net official transfers, reflecting the non-repetition of flows associated with the sale of cellular licenses in the corresponding period of 2000.
Within the financial account, net official inflows of US$236.5MN and net private investment inflows of
US$402.1MN were more than sufficient to finance the deficits on the current account and the capital account.
Consequently, there was a build-up of US$190.8MN in the net international reserves of the Bank of Jamaica. At the end of November 2001, the Bank’s gross reserves was US$1545.4 million, representing approximately 27.0 weeks of goods imports or 18.3 weeks of imports of goods and services.

The following table shows the balance of payments for November 2000, November 2001 and for the fiscal periods
April to November 2000 and April to November 2001.
1. CURRENT ACCOUNT
A. GOODS and SERVICES a. GOODS BALANCE
Exports (f.o.b.)
Imports (f.o.b.) b. SERVICES BALANCE
Transportation
Travel
Other Services
B. INCOME
Compensation of employees
Investment Income
C. CURRENT TRANSFERS
Official
Private
2. CAPITAL & FINANCIAL ACCOUNT
A. CAPITAL ACCOUNT a. Capital Transfers
Official
Private
b. Acq./Disposal of non prod./non fin’l assets
B. FINANCIAL ACCOUNT
Other official investment
Other private investment 3/
Reserves
1/ Revised
2/ Provisional
3/ Includes errors & omissions
86.0
-0.8
-0.8
0.1
-0.9
0.0
86.8
55.5
17.3
14.0
1/ 2/ 1/
November November Apr-Nov
2000
-86.0
-119.6
2001
-79.2
-119.0
2000/01
-275.6
-599.9
-151.9
137.3
289.2
32.3
-28.2
85.3
-24.8
-28.6
12.7
-41.3
-133.9
110.6
244.5
14.9
-26.1
60.4
-19.4
-31.2
13.8
-45.0
-948.3
1024.3
1972.6
348.4
-178.4
711.4
-184.6
-220.8
54.7
-275.5
62.2
3.2
59.0
71.0
3.1
67.9
545.1
108.2
436.9
79.2
-0.9
-0.9
0.0
-0.9
0.0
80.1
-27.6
107.3
0.4
275.6
-2.2
-2.2
6.9
-9.1
0.0
277.8
152.6
253.4
-128.2
2/
Apr-Nov
2001/02
-437.9
-729.1
-1040.0
990.5
2030.5
310.9
-187.9
665.5
-166.7
-281.1
65.8
-346.9
572.3
36.7
535.6
437.9
-9.9
-9.9
0.3
-10.2
0.0
447.8
236.5
402.1
-190.8