‘The economy is growing – that’s a fact’
The economy is growing and is larger than pre-pandemic levels, Jason Hayward has insisted.
However, the Minister of Economy and Labour did acknowledge that not everyone was affected by the growth and admitted that the Government had more work to do to reduce the cost of living for residents.
Last week the BAC Group announced 19 layoffs, with a statement from the company blaming “the prolonged stagnation of Bermuda’s economy” for the job losses.
Recently, Polaris said that the volume of cargo brought to Bermuda remained 20 per cent below the island’s high-water mark in 2018. It added that the volume of cargo was a “proxy from Bermuda’s financial health”.
Pressed on if there was a disconnect between what firms such as BAC and Polaris were saying and what the Government was saying, Mr Hayward said: “The economy is growing. That's a fact.
“We have a number of independent assessment bodies which will confirm that our economy is growing. Our economy has expanded beyond pre-pandemic levels, which is something that we are extremely proud of.”
Jason Hayward was asked, if you have three wishes for 2024, what would you like to see?
“First and foremost, I want to continue to train in a direction where we improve the quality of life for Bermudians and the residents of Bermuda, economic prosperity and stability, and then the third would be ensuring that we clear some of the social ills and gaps that exist within our society.
“It's good for me to say that we'll perform well from an economic standpoint, but I think I have a social responsibility to the electorate to ensure that we not only progress the economy from an economic standpoint, but also from a social standpoint.”
He added: “What individuals are talking about is challenges at a macro level within our economy, maybe industry-specific.
“So if the construction industry is not doing well, that means that businesses that service the construction industry, it may have an impact on their particular businesses.
“That doesn't mean that the economy overall is not doing well. That means that there are still improvements required from certain elements within our overall economy, but when we look at our overall economy, our overall economy is performing well.”
He said alongside the negative stories there were also positive ones such as the bank profits, the performance of international business and local insurance companies.
“When you look at the data they put out on a quarterly basis, it all shows that things are trending in the right direction from their lens and their standpoint.”
The minister said there were three main growth drivers: international business, which represents 28 per cent of the economy; real estate and renting, “which is still performing well”, and local financial and insurance services, which, he said, were also performing well.
Asked about other sectors that employ many Bermudians such as retail, he said: “So what you're looking at is the employment driver sectors.
“If you look at the employment driver sectors, if you look at hospitality, we have had an increase in jobs in the hotel and restaurant sector.
“That sector is performing better than it was during the pandemic, but it's not up to pre-pandemic levels because our overall visitor arrivals are not where they need to be because we have a number of hotel establishments which are offline.
“Once those establishments are online and with the growth that we are already experiencing in other areas of our economy, what we would have is a boom in the economy.”
Mr Hayward said that real gross domestic product, an economic metric which reflects the value of all goods and services produced while factoring in inflation, was the method the Government used to calculate GDP.
Asked how real GDP compared to years such as 2017, Mr Hayward replied: “Actually, 2019 would've been our best-performing year. 2019 was actually booming. All indicators were trending in the right direction.
“So 2019 is the most appropriate benchmark and we are trending currently beyond pre-2019 levels.”
Asked why there appeared to be a difference between what he was saying and what people were saying about the cost of living, he said: “It’s two separate matters.
“I accept that the economy is growing. I don't accept that everybody is in a better position as a result of that.
“What has happened is that we have had high levels of inflation. Inflation increased cost for households and increased cost for businesses, which means it also shrinks purchasing power of households.
“When the purchasing power of households actually shrinks, it’s not a good thing for the overall economy and it's not a good thing for consumers and residents within our economy.
“So that is what they are feeling. So despite our economic growth, we have to do better to reduce the cost of living for residents in Bermuda or they will continue to say that they're not experiencing the same level of economic prosperity that the economy may face.”
• For the full 60-minute interview click on the audio file.
• See tomorrow’s news and business sections for more from the interview with the Minister of Economy and Labour.
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