The 2007 CIA World Factbook

by United States. Central Intelligence Agency

Isle of Man
Offshore banking, manufacturing, and tourism are key
sectors of the economy. The government offers incentives to
high-technology companies and financial institutions to locate on
the island; this has paid off in expanding employment opportunities
in high-income industries. As a result, agriculture and fishing,
once the mainstays of the economy, have declined in their shares of
GDP. The Isle of Man also attracts online gambling sites and the
film industry. Trade is mostly with the UK. The Isle of Man enjoys
free access to EU markets.

Israel
Israel has a technologically advanced market economy with
substantial, though diminishing, government participation. It
depends on imports of crude oil, grains, raw materials, and military
equipment. Despite limited natural resources, Israel has intensively
developed its agricultural and industrial sectors over the past 20
years. Israel imports substantial quantities of grain, but is
largely self-sufficient in other agricultural products. Cut
diamonds, high-technology equipment, and agricultural products
(fruits and vegetables) are the leading exports. Israel usually
posts sizable trade deficits, which are covered by large transfer
payments from abroad and by foreign loans. Roughly half of the
government's external debt is owed to the US, which is its major
source of economic and military aid. The bitter Israeli-Palestinian
conflict; difficulties in the high-technology, construction, and
tourist sectors; and fiscal austerity in the face of growing
inflation led to small declines in GDP in 2001 and 2002. The economy
rebounded in 2003-05, growing at a 4% rate each year, as the
government tightened fiscal policy and implemented structural
reforms to boost competition and efficiency in the markets. The
conflict with Lebanon in summer 2006 dampened slightly GDP growth
estimates for the year, but continuing strong foreign investment,
tax revenue, and private consumption levels helped the economy
recover quickly.

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,
welfare-dependent, agricultural south, with 20% unemployment. Most
raw materials needed by industry and more than 75% of energy
requirements are imported. Over the past decade, Italy has pursued a
tight fiscal policy in order to meet the requirements of the
Economic and Monetary Unions and has benefited from lower interest
and inflation rates. The current government has enacted numerous
short-term reforms aimed at improving competitiveness and long-term
growth. Italy has moved slowly, however, on implementing needed
structural reforms, such as lightening the high tax burden and
overhauling Italy's rigid labor market and over-generous pension
system, because of the current economic slowdown and opposition from
labor unions. But the leadership faces a severe economic constraint:
the budget deficit has breached the 3% EU ceiling. The economy
experienced low growth in 2006, and unemployment remained at a high
level.

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.
Jamaica's economy, already saddled with a record of relatively low
growth, was hit hard by Hurricane Ivan in late 2004, and is making a
gradual recovery. 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 high debt burden - the
result of government bailouts to ailing sectors of the economy, most
notably the financial sector in the mid-1990s. Following a strategy
begun in 2004, Jamaica has reduced its public debt to 130% of GDP.
Inflation has declined to 9%. Uncertain economic conditions have led
to increased civil unrest, including gang violence fueled by the
drug trade. The government faces 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.

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
2004-06, growth improved and the lingering fears of deflation in
prices and economic activity lessened. Japan's huge government debt,
which totals 175% 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 2005 the finance sector
accounted for about 50% 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 one-quarter 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 insufficient supplies of
water, oil, and other natural resources. 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. Since
Jordan's graduation from its most recent IMF program in 2002, Amman
has continued to follow IMF guidelines, practicing careful monetary
policy, and making 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, and has forced 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.