Over half a billion US dollars were shaved off Jamaica's current account last year when multinational firms sent home their parents share of the profits.

The repatriated profits, which totalled close to US$530 million ($37.6 billion), almost 40 per cent more than the previous year's earnings for foreign firms, when approximately $400 million was sent home overseas.

For the 11 months to November 2007 direct investment outflows from the income account of the balance of payments (BOP) totalled US$486 million up from US$340 million a 43 per cent increase.

The preliminary figures for December 2007 doesn't desegregate the income outflows but at US$44 million a month the final figure for 2007 would look like US$530 million, a good deal more than the US$380 million estimated to have been remitted the year before.
Profits earned by foreign firms in Jamaica and then remitted back to their parents overseas have risen steadily over the last three years - nearly 15 per cent each year.

By the central bank's estimate, outflows of income from direct investment companies have risen steadily from US$326.3 million (J$22.8 billion) in 2003 to US$489.6 million (J$34.3 billion) in 2006 - 14.5 per cent a year

Over the years, the increase in "imputed profit remittances of direct investment companies", according to the Bank of Jamaica (BOJ), largely accounted for the "expansion in the deficit on the income account" in Jamaica's Balance of Payments (BOP).

The growth in remitted profit was largely driven by the expansion of the bauxite and alumina companies operating in Jamaica, which over the last few years have enjoyed higher commodity prices on the world market.

The increased value of exports of bauxite and alumina totaled US$774.3 million ($54 billion) in 2003 and increased to US$1.15 billion ($80.5 billion) over the three years to 2006.

The influx of Spanish hotels which have added more than 2,000 all-inclusive rooms in Jamaica since 2003, would have contributed to the increase.

Caribana — music, revelry and wild abandon

Bounty Killer and patriotism

Despite glitches, Stars 'R' Us delivers