CARIFORUM and UK EPA Study

deficiency of information (when 71 percent or less of the required information is available) (Warburton).

Gross capital formation (% of GDP): Gross capital formation (formerly gross domestic investment) consists of outlays on additions to the fixed assets of the economy plus net changes in the level of inventories. Fixed assets include land improvements (fences, ditches, drains, and so on); plant, machinery, and equipment purchases; and the construction of roads, railways, and the like, including schools, offices, hospitals, private residential dwellings, and commercial and industrial buildings. Inventories are stocks of goods held by firms to meet temporary or unexpected fluctuations in production or sales, and "work in progress." According to the 1993 SNA, net acquisitions of valuables are also considered capital formation (World Bank). GDP Deflator (base-year varies by country): The GDP implicit deflator is the ratio of GDP in current local currency to GDP in constant local currency. The base year varies by country (World Bank). Liquidity: Deposit interest rate (%): This variable is a proxy for the use of credit by the private sector to facilitate international trade at the country level; higher rates conventionally discourage borrowing by the private sector, especially small businesses. Deposit interest rate is the rate paid by commercial or similar banks for demand, time, or savings deposits. The terms and conditions attached to these rates differ by country, however, limiting their comparability (World Bank). Real Effective Exchange Rate Index (2010=100) : Real effective exchange rate is the nominal effective exchange rate (a measure of the value of a currency against a weighted average of several foreign currencies) divided by a price deflator or index of costs (World Bank) Average Trade Volume: Average volume of trade (exports and imports) in goods and services as a percentage of GDP for the CARIFORUM countries (Warburton).

Product Concentration Index is also utilised. This is described in Appendix I.

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