About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline
LOG IN
LOG IN

1 1 (June 21, 2018)

handle is hein.crs/govzel0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Con ressional Research Service ~ Infer ~i ig the legislative d late sii 1914 June 21, 2018 Jamaica Political and Economic Environment Jamaica, the most populous English-speaking Caribbean nation, has had a relatively stable parliamentary political system stemming from a history of British colonial rule. Two political parties-the People's National Party (PNP) and the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP)-have dominated the political system since before the country's 1962 independence. Current Prime Minister Andrew Holness of the JLP was elected in February 2016, when his party defeated the PNP, led by then-Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller, who had led the government since 2011. Figure I. lamaica Man rates. In 2009, there were almost 1,700 murders, giving Jamaica a murder rate of 60 per 100,000 inhabitants, according to U.N. statistics. The murder rate fell in subsequent years to a low of 35.1 in 2014 but has increased annually since then to a rate of 55.7 murders per 100,000 in 2017, with a total of 1,616 murders, according to InSight Crime. Jamaica at a Glance Population: Area (square miles): GDP (current prices): Real GDP Growth: Per Capita Income: U.S. Trade: Legislature: 2.8 million (2017 est., IMF) 4,244, slightly smaller than Connecticut $14.4 billion (2017 est., IMF) 1.5% (2016), 1.0% (2017 est., IMF) $5,048 (2017 est., IMF) U.S. Imports, $338 million U.S. Exports, $2.1 billion (2017, DC) Bicameral Parliament, with 63- member elected House of Representatives and 21-member appointed Senate source: L..m. Prime Minister Holness remains popular, but the JLP has only a slight majority in Jamaica's House of Representatives, where it holds 33 of 63 seats. The opposition PNP was weakened by a campaign finance corruption scandal in 2016; as a result, it suffered losses in local elections held late that year. Simpson Miller stepped down as PNP leader in March 2017, and the party selected Peter Phillips, who had served as Finance Minister and Minister of National Security in previous PNP governments, as her replacement. The Holness government has focused on efforts to boost growth and deal with increasing levels of violent crime. The country's next parliamentary elections are due by February 2021. High rates of crime and violence have plagued Jamaica for many years. In the 1970s and 1980s, the country faced a high level of politically motivated violence as political parties allied with armed gangs to deliver votes at election time. Jamaica's gangs initially were involved in the trafficking of marijuana in the 1970s, but in the mid-1980s they became involved in cocaine and weapons trafficking, with Jamaica used as a transit country. Since the 1990s, much of the violent crime has been associated with drug trafficking and related intra-gang and inter-gang feuds. The inflow of illegal firearms, including U.S.-origin firearms, also has been a factor in violent crime. For a number of years, Jamaica has had one of the world's highest murder https://crsrep Sources: International Monetary Fund (IMF); U.S. Department of Commerce (DC), as presented by Global Trade Atlas. The Holness government designated two areas as zones of special operation in 2017, which gave the security forces increased powers intended to contain the rise in crime and violence. The efforts, however, did not prevent a 20% increase in the murder rate over 2016. To date in 2018, Prime Minister Holness has declared a state of emergency in St. James Parish (which includes Montego Bay) on the northwestern coast and portions of St. Catherine Parish in the south, but the level of violence has decreased only slightly, according to Jamaican statistics. Since the inflow of illegal firearms is a contributor to the high murder rate, Prime Minister Holness has vowed to amend the country's firearms law to curb the possession of or dealing in illegal firearms and ammunition. With a per capita income over $5,000, the World Bank classifies Jamaica as an upper-middle-income country. The economy is heavily dependent on services, especially tourism (reaching a record 4.3 million tourist arrivals in 2017), but has averaged modest growth over the past two decades. According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the economy grew 1.5% in 2016, an estimated 1% in 2017, and the 2018 forecast is for 1.5% growth. For a number of years, a difficult challenge for the government has been managing its large public debt burden, although there has been some improvement over the past several years. Beginning in 2013, Jamaica received around $2 billion in support from the IMF, World Bank, and Inter- orts.congressgov 0

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Short-term subscription options include 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week to HeinOnline.

Purchase Access

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

Log In

profiles profiles most