Economic and Financial Review - June 2019

June 2019 Economic and Financial Review SAINT LUCIA

External Sector Developments

Saint Lucia Visible Trade

EC$M

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The merchandise trade deficit narrowed by 17.4 per cent to $670.0m in the first six months of 2019 compared with the 9.8 per cent expansion to $811.0m recorded in the corresponding period of the previous year. This development was primarily associated with a 17.5 per cent ($157.0m) decline in the value of imports to $739.8m, influenced by decreased spending for minerals, fuel, lubricants and related materials ($100.1m) as well as machinery and transport equipment ($17.7m). In fact, all sub-categories of imports declined, except food and live animals, which rose marginally. Receipts from total exports fell by 18.5 per cent to $69.8m, driven by a decline in the value of both re-exports and domestic exports. Earnings from re-exports decreased by 27.9 per cent ($9.0m), while domestic exports fell by 12.9 per cent ($6.9m), largely due to contractions in manufactured goods ($4.0m) and food and live animals ($2.6m).

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Total Exports

Total Imports

Trade Balance

Gross receipts from travel are estimated to have increased by 6.6 per cent to $1,386.4m, reflective of growth in the number of stay-over visitors. Transactions of commercial banks resulted in a net outflow of $207.7m in short-term capital during the first half of 2019, compared with an outflow of $258.6m recorded during the corresponding period of 2018. In the period under review, external loan disbursements to the government stood at $136.9m, which was more than double the $58.2m disbursed over the comparable period in 2018. In addition, principal repayments decreased by 50.2 per cent to $46.4m, relative to the $93.2m recorded one year earlier. Consequently, the central government financing decisions led to a net inflow of $90.5m, in contrast to the net outflow of $35.0m in the first six months of 2018.

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Eastern Caribbean Central Bank