|
|
|
|
|
|
DIRECTORIES |
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
SEARCH THE CBCNATM DIRECTORIES FOR CARIBBEAN BUSINESSES,
PROFESSIONALS, & SERVICES
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
LIST YOUR
BUSINESS IN OUR DIRECTORY
|
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
VISIT OUR COUNTRY PAGES FOR BUSINESS, NEWS, EVENTS,
LIVE MUSIC & TV, EDUCATION, CULTURE , & MORE
|
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
|
 |
JAMAICA
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Also Known as: |
Land of
Wood and Water |
|
Motto: |
Out of Many One People |
|
|
History |
The
Island, discovered by Christopher Columbus in 1494, was settled by the
Spanish early in the 16th century. The native Taino Indians, who
had inhabited Jamaica for centuries, were gradually exterminated and
replace by African slaves. England seized the island in 1655 and
established a plantation economy based on sugar, cocoa and coffee.
The abolition of slavery in 1834 freed a quarter million slaves, many
whom became small farmers. Jamaica gradually obtained increasing
independence from Britain. In 1958 it joined other British
Caribbean colonies in forming the Federation of the West Indies.
Jamaica gained full independence when it withdrew from the Federation in
1962. Deteriorating economic conditions during the 1970s led to
recurrent violence as rival gangs affiliated with the major political
parties evolved into powerful organized crime networks involved in
international drug smuggling and money laundering. Violent crime,
drug trafficking and poverty pose significant challenges to the
government today. Nonetheless, many rural and resort areas remain
relatively safe and contribute substantially to the economy. |
|
|
Geography |
|
|
Location: |
In the Caribbean Sea,
145 km (90 miles) south of Cuba and 160 km (100 miles) west of Haiti.
|
Geographic
coordinates: |
18 15 N, 77 30 W |
|
|
Area: |
total: 10,991 sq km
land: 10,831 sq km
water: 160 sq km |
|
Land boundaries: |
0 km |
|
Coastline: |
1,022 km |
|
Maritime claims: |
measured from claimed archipelagic straight
baselines
territorial sea: 12 nm
contiguous zone: 24 nm
exclusive economic zone: 200 nm
continental shelf: 200 nm or to edge of the continental margin |
|
Climate: |
tropical; hot, humid; temperate interior
|
|
Terrain: |
mostly mountains, with narrow,
discontinuous coastal plain |
|
Elevation extremes: |
lowest point: Caribbean Sea 0 m
highest point: Blue Mountain Peak 2,256 m |
|
Natural resources: |
bauxite, gypsum, limestone |
|
Land use: |
arable land: 15.83%
permanent crops: 10.01%
other: 74.16% (2005) |
|
Natural hazards: |
hurricanes (especially July to November)
|
|
Environment - current issues:
|
heavy rates of deforestation; coastal
waters polluted by industrial waste, sewage, and oil spills; damage to
coral reefs; air pollution in Kingston results from vehicle emissions
|
|
Geography - note: |
strategic location between Cayman Trench
and Jamaica Channel, the main sea lanes for the Panama Canal |
|
|
People |
|
|
Population: |
2,825,928 (July 2009 est.) |
|
Age structure: |
0-14 years: 31.4% (male 451,310/female
436,466)
15-64 years: 61.1% (male 851,372/female 875,132)
65 years and over: 7.5% (male 94,833/female 116,815) (2009 est.) |
|
Population growth rate: |
0.755% (2009 est.) |
|
Birth rate: |
19.68 births/1,000 population (2009 est.) |
|
Death rate: |
6.43 deaths/1,000 population (July 2009
est.) |
|
Net migration rate: |
-5.7 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2009
est.) |
|
Urbanization: |
urban population: 53% of total population
(2008) |
|
Sex ratio: |
at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.03 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 0.97 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.81 male(s)/female
total population: 0.98 male(s)/female (2009 est.) |
|
Nationality: |
noun: Jamaican(s)
adjective: Jamaican |
|
Ethnic groups: |
black 91.2%, mixed 6.2%, other or unknown
2.6% (2001 census) |
|
Languages: |
English, English patois |
|
Literacy: |
definition: age 15 and over has ever
attended school
total population: 87.9%
male: 84.1%
female: 91.6% (2003 est.) |
|
Religions: |
Protestant 62.5% (Seventh-Day Adventist
10.8%, Pentecostal 9.5%, Other Church of God 8.3%, Baptist 7.2%, New
Testament Church of God 6.3%, Church of God in Jamaica 4.8%, Church of
God of Prophecy 4.3%, Anglican 3.6%, other Christian 7.7%), Roman
Catholic 2.6%, other or unspecified 14.2%, none 20.9%, (2001 census)
|
|
|
Government |
|
|
Name: |
conventional long form: none
conventional short form: Jamaica |
|
Capital: |
name: Kingston
geographic coordinates: 18 00 N, 76 48 W |
|
Administrative Division: |
14 parishes; Clarendon, Hanover, Kingston,
Manchester, Portland, Saint Andrew, Saint Ann, Saint Catherine, Saint
Elizabeth, Saint James, Saint Mary, Saint Thomas, Trelawny,
Westmoreland: note: for local government purposes, Kingston and Saint
Andrew were amalgamated in 1923 into the present single corporate body
known as the Kingston and Saint Andrew Corporation |
|
Independence: |
6 August 1962 (from the UK) |
|
Constitution: |
6 August 1962 |
|
National Holidays: |
New Year's Day (01 January); Ash Wednesday;
Good Friday; Easter Monday; Labour Day (23 May); Emancipation Day (1
August); Independence Day (First Monday in August); National Heroes Day
(third Monday in October); Christmas Day (25 December); Boxing Day (26
December)
Holidays that fall on a Sunday are observed the following Monday. In the
case of Labour Day only, if this falls on a Saturday or Sunday then the
Monday will be a holiday. |
|
Legal System: |
based on English common law; has not accepted
compulsory International Court of Justice jurisdiction |
|
Suffrage: |
18 years of age; universal |
|
Executive branch: |
chief of state: Queen ELIZABETH II (since February
1952); represented by Governor General Dr. Patrick L. ALLEN (since 26
February 2009);
head of government: Prime Minister Bruce GOLDING (since
11 September 2007); Prime Minister GOLDING was born 5 December 1947. He
received his B.Sc. (Hons) Economics in 1969. Elected to the Central
Executive of the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) in 1969, he formed the
National Democratic Movement (NDM) and remained President of that party
between 1995-2001. In 2002 he rejoined the JLP, becoming Leader of the
party in 2005, and Prime Minister in 2007.
cabinet: Cabinet appointed by the governor general
on the advice of the prime minister;
elections: the monarch is
hereditary; governor general appointed by the monarch on the
recommendation of the prime minister; following legislative elections,
the leader of the majority party or the leader of the majority coalition
in the House of Representatives is appointed prime minister by the
governor general; the deputy prime minister is recommended by the prime
minister. |
|
Legislative branch: |
bicameral parliament
consists of the Senate (a 21-member body appointed by the governor
general on the recommendations of the prime minister and the leader of
the opposition; ruling party is allocated 13 seats, and the opposition
is allocated 8 seats) and the House of Representatives (60 seats members
are elected by popular vote to serve five-year terms); elections: last
held 3 September 2007 (next to be held no later than October 2012);
election results: percent of vote by party - JLP 50.1%, PNP 49.8%; seats
by party - JLP 33, PNP 27 |
|
Judicial branch: |
Supreme Court
(judges appointed by the governor general on the advice of the prime
minister); Court of Appeal; Privy Council in UK; member of the Caribbean
Court of Justice (CCJ) |
|
Political parties and leaders: |
Jamaica Labor
Party or JLP [Bruce GOLDING]; People's National Pary or PNP [Portia
SIMPSON-MILLER]; National Democratic Movement or NDM [Michael WILLIAMS] |
|
Political pressure groups and leaders: |
New Beginnings Movement or NBM;
Rastafarians (black religious/racial cultists, pan-Africanists) |
|
International organization
participation: |
ACP, C, Caricom, CDB, FAO, G-15, G-77, IADB,
IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICCt (signatory), ICRM, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, IHO, ILO,
IMF, IMO, Interpol, IOC, IOM, ISO, ITSO, ITU, LAES, MIGA, NAM, OAS,
OPANAL, OPCW, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UNWTO, UPU, WCO, WFTU, WHO,
WIPO, WMO, WTO |
|
Diplomatic representation in the US:
|
chief of mission: Ambassador Anthony
JOHNSON
chancery: 1520 New Hampshire Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20036
telephone: [1] (202) 452-0660
FAX: [1] (202) 452-0081
consulate(s) general: Miami, New York |
|
Diplomatic representation from the US:
|
chief of mission: Ambassador Brenda
LaGrange JOHNSON
embassy: 142 Old Hope Road, Kingston 6
mailing address: P.O. Box 541, Kingston 5
telephone: [1] (876) 702-6000
FAX: [1] (876) 702-6001 |
Date of CARICOM
Membership: |
1 August 1973 |
|
National Holidays: |
New Year's Day (01 January); Ash Wednesday; Good Friday; Easter
Monday; Labour Day (22 May); Emancipation Day (August 1) Independence Day
(August 6); National
Heroes Day (16 October); Christmas Day (25 December); Boxing Day (26
December) |
|
Flag description: |
diagonal yellow cross divides the flag into
four triangles - green (top and bottom) and black (hoist side and outer
side); green represents hope, vegetation, and agriculture, black
reflects hardships overcome and to be faced, and yellow recalls golden
sunshine and the island's natural resources |
|
|
Economy |
|
|
Overview: |
The Jamaican economy is heavily dependent
on services, which now account for more than 60% of GDP. The country
continues to derive most of its foreign exchange from tourism,
remittances, and bauxite/alumina. Remittances account for nearly 20%
of GDP and are equivalent to tourism revenues. Jamaica's economy, already saddled
with the lowest economic growth in Latin America, will face increasing
difficulties as the global economy slows. The economy faces serious long-term
problems: a sizable merchandise trade
deficit, large-scale unemployment and underemployment, and a high debt-to-GDP
ratio of almost 130%. Jamaica's onerous debt burden - the fourth highest
per capita - is the result of government bailouts to ailing sectors of
the economy, most notably the financial sector in the mid-to-late 1990s.
It hinders government spending on infrastructure and social programs as
debt servicing accounts for nearly half of government expenditures. Inflation
roes sharply in 2008 as a result of high prices for imported food and
oil and should fall in 2009 with the decline in international oil
prices. High unemployment exacerbates the serious crime problem,
including gang violence that is fueled by the drug trade. The
GOLDING administration faces the difficult prospect of having to achieve
fiscal discipline in order to maintain debt payments while
simultaneously attacking a serious and growing crime problem that is
hampering economic growth. |
|
GDP (purchasing power parity): |
$20.91 billion (2008 est.) |
|
GDP (official exchange rate):
|
$14.4 billion (2008 est.) |
|
GDP - real growth rate: |
-0.6% (2008 est.) |
|
GDP - per capita (PPP): |
$7,500 (2008 est.) |
|
GDP - composition by sector: |
agriculture: 5.2%
industry: 32.6%
services: 62.2% (2008 est.) |
|
Labor force: |
1.304 million (2008 est.) |
|
Labor force - by occupation: |
agriculture: 17%
industry: 19%
services: 64% (2006) |
|
Unemployment rate: |
11% (2008 est.) |
|
Budget: |
revenues: $3.794 billion |
|
Agriculture - products: |
sugarcane, bananas, coffee, citrus, yams,
ackees, vegetables; poultry, goats, milk; crustaceans, mollusks |
|
Industries: |
tourism, bauxite/alumina, agro processing,
light manufactures, rum, cement, metal, paper, chemical products,
telecommunications |
|
Industrial production growth rate: |
-0.5% (2008 est.) |
|
Exports: |
$2.602 billion (2008 est.) |
|
Exports - commodities: |
alumina, bauxite, sugar, rum, coffee, yams,
beverages, chemicals, wearing apparel, mineral fuels |
|
Exports - partners: |
US 30.8%, Canada 13.2%, Netherlands 9.8%,
UK 9.2%, France 6.7%, Russia 6.6%, Germany 5.5% (2008) |
|
Imports: |
$7.185 billion (2008 est.) |
|
Imports - commodities: |
food and other consumer goods, industrial
supplies, fuel, parts and accessories of capital goods, machinery and
transport equipment, construction materials |
|
Imports - partners: |
US 34.7%, Trinidad and Tobago 14.4%,
Grenada 9.7%, Venezuela 9.5%, Brazil 4.1% (2008) |
|
Exchange rates: |
Jamaican dollars (JMD) per US dollar -
72.236 (2008 est.) |
|
Business Hours: |
Commercial: 09:00-17:00hrs Monday to Friday Government: 08:30-17:00 hrs Monday to
Thursday; 08:30-16:00 hrs Friday |
|
|
Communications |
|
|
Telephones main lines (2008) |
316,600 (2008) |
|
Telephones - mobile cellular:
|
2.723 million (2008) |
|
Telephone system: |
general assessment: fully automatic
domestic telephone network
domestic: the 1999 agreement to open the market for telecommunications
services resulted in rapid growth in mobile-cellular telephone usage
while the number of fixed-lines in use has declined; combined
mobile-cellular teledensity now exceeds 100 per 100 persons
international: country code - 1-876; the Fibralink submarine cable
network provides enhanced delivery of business and broadband traffic and
is linked to the Americas Region Caribbean Ring System (ARCOS-1)
submarine cable in the Dominican Republic; the link to ARCOS-1 provides
seamless connectivity to US, parts of the Caribbean, Central America,
and South America; satellite earth stations - 2 Intelsat (Atlantic
Ocean) (2006) |
|
Radio broadcast stations: |
AM 10, FM 13, shortwave 0 (1998) |
|
Television broadcast stations:
|
7 (1997) |
|
Internet country code: |
.jm |
|
Internet hosts: |
1,292 (2008) |
|
Internet users: |
1.5 million (2007) |
|
Transportation: |
|
|
Airports: |
27 (2009) The two main
airports are the Norman Manley
International in Kingston and the Donald Sangster International in Montego Bay |
|
Airports - with paved runways:
|
total: 12
2,438 to 3,047 m: 2
914 to 1,523 m: 3
under 914 m: 7 (2009) |
|
Airports - with unpaved runways:
|
total: 15
under 914 m: 15 (2009) |
|
Roadways: |
total: 21,552 km
paved: 15,937 km (includes 33 km of expressways)
unpaved: 5,615 km (2005) |
|
Merchant marine: |
total: 20
by type: bulk carrier 6, cargo 6, carrier 1, container 4, roll on/roll
off 3
foreign-owned: 17 (Denmark 2, Germany 4, Greece 6, Hong Kong 1, Latvia
1, Russia 3) (2008) |
|
Ports and terminals: |
Kingston, Port Esquivel, Port Kaiser, Port
Rhoades, Rocky Point |
|
|
Military |
Jamaica Defense Force: Ground Forces, Coast
Guard, Air Wing (2009) |
|
|
Main Source of Information: the Central Intelligence Agency
World Factbook |
|
|
Items of Interest |
|
|
National Anthem: |
Jamaica Land We Love
Eternal Father bless our land,
Guard us with Thy Might Hand
Keep us free from evil powers,
Be our light through countless hours.
To our Leaders Great Defender,
Grant true wisdom from above.
Justice, Truth be ours forever,
Jamaica, Land we love.
Jamaica, Jamaica, Jamaica land we love.
Teach us true respect for all,
Stir response to duty's call,
Strengthen us the weak to cherish,
Give us vision lest we perish.
Knowledge send us Heavenly Father,
Grant true wisdom from above.
Justice, Truth be ours forever,
Jamaica, Land we love.
Jamaica, Jamaica, Jamaica land we love
(Words by Hugh Sherlock; music by Robert
Lightbourne)
|
|
Highest National Award: |
Order of the National Hero |
|
Favourite Local Cuisine: |
Ackee and Salt Fish,
Fricassee Chicken and Rice and Peas, Roast Breadfruit, Fried Plantains,
Boiled Dumplings, Green Banana, Johnny Cake |
|
Government Web Site: |
http://www.cabinet.gov.jm |
|
|
|
|
