Jamaica
The Jamaican economy is heavily dependent on services, which
now account for 60% of GDP. The country continues to derive most of
its foreign exchange from remittances, tourism, and bauxite/alumina.
The global economic slowdown, particularly after the terrorist
attacks in the US on 11 September 2001, stunted economic growth; the
economy rebounded moderately in 2003-04, with brisk tourist seasons.
But the economy faces serious long-term problems: high interest
rates, increased foreign competition, exchange rate instability, a
sizable merchandise trade deficit, large-scale unemployment and
underemployment, and a growing stock of internal debt - the result
of government bailouts to ailing sectors of the economy, most
notably the financial sector in the mid-1990s. The ratio of debt to
GDP is 135%. Inflation, previously a bright spot, is expected to
remain in the double digits. Uncertain economic conditions have led
to increased civil unrest, including gang violence fueled by the
drug trade. In 2004, the government faced the difficult prospect of
having to achieve fiscal discipline in order to maintain debt
payments while simultaneously attacking a serious and growing crime
problem that is hampering economic growth. Attempts at deficit
control were derailed by Hurricane Ivan in September 2004, which
required substantial government spending to repair the damage.
Despite the hurricane, tourism looks set to enjoy solid growth for
the foreseeable future.
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 on the
island.
Japan
Government-industry cooperation, a strong work ethic, mastery
of high technology, and a comparatively small defense allocation (1%
of GDP) helped Japan advance with extraordinary rapidity to the rank
of second most technologically powerful economy in the world after
the US and the third-largest economy in the world after the US and
China, measured on a purchasing power parity (PPP) basis. One
notable characteristic of the economy is how manufacturers,
suppliers, and distributors work together 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. Japan's industrial sector is
heavily dependent on imported raw materials and fuels. The tiny
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 60% of its food on a caloric basis.
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, averaging just 1.7%, largely
because of the after effects of overinvestment during the late 1980s
and contractionary domestic policies intended to wring speculative
excesses from the stock and real estate markets and to force a
restructuring of the economy. From 2000 to 2003, government efforts
to revive economic growth met with little success and were further
hampered by the slowing of the US, European, and Asian economies. In
2004 and 2005, growth improved and the lingering fears of deflation
in prices and economic activity lessened. Japan's huge government
debt, which totals 170% of GDP, and the aging of the population are
two major long-run problems. Some fear that a rise in taxes could
endanger the current economic recovery. Internal conflict over the
proper way to reform the financial system will continue as Japan
Post's banking, insurance, and delivery services undergo
privatization between 2007 and 2017.
Jarvis Island
no economic activity
Jersey
Jersey's economy is based on international financial
services, agriculture, and tourism. In 1996, the finance sector
accounted for about 60% of the island's output. 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. Tourism 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. Living standards come
close to those of the UK.
Johnston Atoll
no economic activity
Jordan
Jordan is a small Arab country with inadequate supplies of
water and other natural resources such as oil. Debt, poverty, and
unemployment are fundamental problems, but King ABDALLAH, since
assuming the throne in 1999, has undertaken some broad economic
reforms in a long-term effort to improve living standards. 'Amman in
the past three years has worked closely with the IMF, practiced
careful monetary policy, and made substantial headway with
privatization. The government also has liberalized the trade regime
sufficiently to secure Jordan's membership in the WTO (2000), a free
trade accord with the US (2001), and an association agreement with
the EU (2001). These measures have helped improve productivity and
have put Jordan on the foreign investment map. Jordan imported most
of its oil from Iraq, but the US-led war in Iraq in 2003 made Jordan
more dependent on oil from other Gulf nations, forcing the Jordanian
Government to raise retail petroleum product prices and the sales
tax base. Jordan's export market, which is heavily dependent on
exports to Iraq, was also affected by the war but recovered quickly
while contributing to the Iraq recovery effort. The main challenges
facing Jordan are reducing dependence on foreign grants, reducing
the budget deficit, and creating investment incentives to promote
job creation.
Juan de Nova Island
Up to 12,000 tons of guano are mined per year.
Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan, the largest of the former Soviet republics in
territory, excluding Russia, possesses enormous fossil fuel reserves
and plentiful supplies of other minerals and metals. It also has a
large agricultural sector featuring livestock and grain.
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 in 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. Kazakhstan
enjoyed double-digit growth in 2000-01 - 9% or more per year in
2002-05 - thanks largely to its booming energy sector, but also to
economic reform, good harvests, and foreign investment. The opening
of the Caspian Consortium pipeline in 2001, from western
Kazakhstan's Tengiz oilfield to the Black Sea, substantially raised
export capacity. Kazakhstan also has begun work on an ambitious
cooperative construction effort with China to build an oil pipeline
that will extend from the country's Caspian coast eastward to the
Chinese border. The country has embarked upon an industrial policy
designed to diversify the economy away from overdependence on the
oil sector by developing light industry. The policy aims to reduce
the influence of foreign investment and foreign personnel. The
government has engaged in several disputes with foreign oil
companies over the terms of production agreements; tensions
continue. Upward pressure on the local currency continued in 2005
due to massive oil-related foreign-exchange inflows.
Kenya
The regional hub for trade and finance in East Africa, Kenya
has been hampered by corruption and by reliance upon several primary
goods whose prices have remained low. In 1997, the IMF suspended
Kenya's Enhanced Structural Adjustment Program due to the
government's failure to maintain reforms and curb corruption. A
severe drought from 1999 to 2000 compounded Kenya's problems,
causing water and energy rationing and reducing agricultural output.
As a result, GDP contracted by 0.2% in 2000. The IMF, which had
resumed loans in 2000 to help Kenya through the drought, again
halted lending in 2001 when the government failed to institute
several anticorruption measures. Despite the return of strong rains
in 2001, weak commodity prices, endemic corruption, and low
investment limited Kenya's economic growth to 1.2%. Growth lagged at
1.1% in 2002 because of erratic rains, low investor confidence,
meager donor support, and political infighting up to the elections.
In the key December 2002 elections, Daniel Arap MOI's 24-year-old
reign ended, and a new opposition government took on the formidable
economic problems facing the nation. In 2003, progress was made in
rooting out corruption and encouraging donor support. GDP grew more
than 5% in 2005.