Italy:
Italy has a diversified industrial economy with roughly the
same total and per capita output as France and the UK. This
capitalistic economy remains divided into a developed industrial
north, dominated by private companies, and a less developed
agricultural south, with more than 20% unemployment. Most raw
materials needed by industry and more than 75% of energy
requirements are imported. Since 1992, Italy has adopted budgets
compliant with the requirements of the European Monetary Union
(EMU); wage moderation agreements by representatives of government,
labor, and employers have helped to bring Italy's inflation into
conformity with EMU requirements. Italy's economic performance,
however, has lagged behind that of its EU partners and it must work
to stimulate employment, promote labor flexibility, reform its
expensive pension system, and tackle the informal economy.
Jamaica:
Key sectors in this island economy are bauxite (alumina and
bauxite account for more than half of exports) and tourism. Since
assuming office in 1992, Prime Minister PATTERSON has eliminated
most price controls, streamlined tax schedules, and privatized
government enterprises. Continued tight monetary and fiscal policies
have helped slow inflation - although inflationary pressures are
mounting - and stabilize the exchange rate, but have resulted in the
slowdown of economic growth (moving from 1.5% in 1992 to 0.5% in
1995). In 1996, GDP showed negative growth (-1.4%) and remained
negative through 1999. Serious problems include: high interest
rates; increased foreign competition; the weak financial condition
of business in general resulting in receiverships or closures and
downsizings of companies; the shift in investment portfolios to
non-productive, short-term high yield instruments; a pressured,
sometimes sliding, exchange rate; a widening merchandise trade
deficit; and a growing internal debt for government bailouts to
various ailing sectors of the economy, particularly the financial
sector. Depressed economic conditions in 1999-2000 led to increased
civil unrest, including a mounting crime rate. Jamaica's medium-term
prospects will depend upon encouraging investment in the productive
sectors, maintaining a competitive exchange rate, stabilizing the
labor environment, selling off reacquired firms, and implementing
proper fiscal and monetary policies.
Jan Mayen:
Jan Mayen is a volcanic island with no exploitable
natural resources. Economic activity is limited to providing
services for employees of Norway's radio and meteorological stations
located on the island.
Japan:
Government-industry cooperation, a strong work ethic, mastery
of high technology, and a comparatively small defense allocation (1%
of GDP) have helped Japan advance with extraordinary rapidity to the
rank of second most technologically powerful economy in the world
after the US and third largest economy in the world after the US and
China. One notable characteristic of the economy is the working
together of manufacturers, suppliers, and distributors in
closely-knit groups called keiretsu. A second basic feature has been
the guarantee of lifetime employment for a substantial portion of
the urban labor force. Both features are now eroding. Industry, the
most important sector of the economy, is heavily dependent on
imported raw materials and fuels. The much smaller agricultural
sector is highly subsidized and protected, with crop yields among
the highest in the world. Usually self-sufficient in rice, Japan
must import about 50% of its requirements of other grain and fodder
crops. Japan maintains one of the world's largest fishing fleets and
accounts for nearly 15% of the global catch. For three decades
overall real economic growth had been spectacular: a 10% average in
the 1960s, a 5% average in the 1970s, and a 4% average in the 1980s.
Growth slowed markedly in the 1990s largely because of the
aftereffects of overinvestment during the late 1980s and
contractionary domestic policies intended to wring speculative
excesses from the stock and real estate markets. Government efforts
to revive economic growth have met little success and were further
hampered in late 2000 by the slowing of the US and Asian economies.
The crowding of habitable land area and the aging of the population
are two major long-run problems. Robotics constitutes a key
long-term economic strength, with Japan possessing 410,000 of the
world's 720,000 "working robots".
Jarvis Island:
no economic activity
Jersey:
The economy is based largely on international financial
services, agriculture, and tourism. Potatoes, cauliflower, tomatoes,
and especially flowers are important export crops, shipped mostly to
the UK. The Jersey breed of dairy cattle is known worldwide and
represents an important export income earner. Milk products go to
the UK and other EU countries. In 1996 the finance sector accounted
for about 60% of the island's output. Tourism, another mainstay of
the economy, accounts for 24% of GDP. In recent years, the
government has encouraged light industry to locate in Jersey, with
the result that an electronics industry has developed alongside the
traditional manufacturing of knitwear. All raw material and energy
requirements are imported, as well as a large share of Jersey's food
needs. Light taxes and death duties make the island a popular tax
haven.
Johnston Atoll:
Economic activity is limited to providing services
to US military personnel and contractors located on the island. All
food and manufactured goods must be imported.
Jordan:
Jordan is a small Arab country with inadequate supplies of
water and other natural resources such as oil. The Persian Gulf
crisis, which began in August 1990, aggravated Jordan's already
serious economic problems, forcing the government to stop most debt
payments and suspend rescheduling negotiations. Aid from Gulf Arab
states, worker remittances, and trade revenues contracted. Refugees
flooded the country, producing serious balance-of-payments problems,
stunting GDP growth, and straining government resources. The economy
rebounded in 1992, largely due to the influx of capital repatriated
by workers returning from the Gulf. After averaging 9% in 1992-95,
GDP growth averaged only 1.5% during 1996-99. In an attempt to spur
growth, King ABDALLAH has undertaken limited economic reform,
including partial privatization of some state-owned enterprises and
Jordan's entry in January 2000 into the World Trade Organization
(WTrO). Debt, poverty, and unemployment are fundamental ongoing
economic problems.
Juan de Nova Island:
Up to 12,000 tons of guano are mined per year.
Kazakhstan:
Kazakhstan, the second largest of the former Soviet
republics in territory, possesses enormous fossil fuel reserves as
well as plentiful supplies of other minerals and metals. It also is
a large agricultural - livestock and grain - producer. Kazakhstan's
industrial sector rests on the extraction and processing of these
natural resources and also on a growing machine-building sector
specializing in construction equipment, tractors, agricultural
machinery, and some defense items. The breakup of the USSR in
December 1991 and the collapse of demand for Kazakhstan's
traditional heavy industry products resulted in a short-term
contraction of the economy, with the steepest annual decline
occurring in 1994. In 1995-97, the pace of the government program of
economic reform and privatization quickened, resulting in a
substantial shifting of assets into the private sector. The Caspian
Pipeline Consortium agreement to build a new pipeline from western
Kazakhstan's Tengiz oil field to the Black Sea increases prospects
for substantially larger oil exports in several years. Kazakhstan's
economy again turned downward in 1998 with a 2% decline in GDP due
to slumping oil prices and the August financial crisis in Russia.
The recovery of international oil prices in 1999, combined with a
well-timed tenge devaluation and a bumper grain harvest, pulled the
economy out of recession in 2000. Astana has embarked upon an
industrial policy designed to diversify the economy away from
overdependence on the oil sector by developing light industry.