CARIFORUM and UK EPA Study

has had on CARIFORUM States’ services trade and, by extension, on their wider economies. It is also noteworthy that, while the DR and Jamaica’s commercial services exports have generally trended upwards, Trinidad and Tobago’s commercial services exports have been in gradual decline, while Barbados’s exports have been somewhat unstable over the six-year assessment period. Figure 27: Major CARIFORUM Commercial Services Importers Dominican Republic Jamaica Trinidad and Tobago

Source: WTO Statistical Database

At the same time, all four of the abovementioned economies experienced declines in their commercial services imports, though, in this instance, Barbados was most affected, with a decline of 52%, despite 7% growth a year earlier. Jamaica followed, recording a drop of 35%, after charting growth of 9% the previous year. Both the Dominican Republic and Trinidad and Tobago’s services imports declined at approximately half the rate of that of Barbados. However, the Dominican Republic followed up a 9% growth rate in imports in 2019 with a 26% decline in 2020, while Trinidad and Tobago’s, which has been on a persistent downward trend since 2017, saw its imports fall by 25% in 2020, after an equivalent decline in 2019. This was perhaps due to lower import demand for services incidental to its manufacturing sector, particularly the production of oil and gas and related by-products.

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