The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

Bahamian goods exports declined by 27 per cent year-over-year for the 2016 first quarter, according to data released yesterday by the Department of Statistics.

The report said the drop to $78 million was led by the ‘crude minerals, inedible except fuels’ and ‘mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials’ categories, which decreased by 77 per cent and 58 per cent respectively.

“The categories that contributed the [most] to the exports are ‘chemicals’, which totalled 41 per cent, and ‘food and live animals’, which totalled 15 per cent,” the Department of Statistics added.

Meanwhile, total goods imports into the Bahamas for the first three months of 2016 fell by 14 per cent compared to the year before, hitting $641 million.

“The groups that had the largest decreases over the same period [in 2015] were ‘chemicals’ and ‘miscellaneous manufactured articles’, which declined by 34 per cent and 27 per cent, respectively,” the Department of Statistics said.

“As it relates to major groups of merchandise, the category of ‘machinery and transport equipment’, which totalled $136 million, accounted for 21 per cent of the imports. This was followed closely by ‘food and live animals’, which totalled 20 per cent of all imports.”