TWENTY-two billion dollars, that is the final price tag on the cost to the country's economy of the West Kingston civil unrest last May, according to data published by the Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ) last month.

Just over 70 persons were killed, several more injured and the manufacturing and tourism sectors bore the brunt of the initial economic fall out from the efforts by agents of the State to capture then-fugitive Christopher 'Dudus' Coke.

"The impact of the unrest on the economy was estimated at $22.6 billion or US$258.8 million. This was determined by, among other factors, the severity and duration of losses to affected sectors and activities, the cost of physical assets damaged, and the extent of contingency spending associated by its impact," stated the Economic and Social Survey 2010 published this April by the PIOJ.

This recently released document mirrors data in the agency's earlier report on the Macro Socio-Economic Effects of the events in the West Kingston area, released in October 2010.

In that document the PIOJ noted that, "...while Western Kingston was the locus of the event, several other communities were severely affected in terms of livelihoods lost and dried up liquidity due to their symbiotic relationship with Western Kingston".

The report, which relied on data collated between May 22 and June 7, said: "The primary affected population (two per cent) was found in the parishes of Kingston and St Andrew, in an area collectively defined as the Western Kingston Area comprising Denham Town, Central downtown (Kingston), Tivoli Gardens, Fletcher's Land, Hanna Town and West Downtown. Together, these communities possessed a population of some 39,332 persons.

"Some 41 per cent of that population could have been found in the community of Tivoli Gardens, which was the home of Christopher 'Dudus' Coke," the October 2010 report read.

It defined the secondary population as those who formed part of the employed labour force who worked in the parishes of Kingston and St Andrew and who accounted for 11 per cent of the population which was comprised of persons employed to the public sector (12 per cent), and the remaining 88 per cent to the private sector, hence the major fallout in the latter.

"Other segments of the population were affected as well, such as farmers in rural communities whose sale of goods through Coronation Market was disrupted," according to the report. Between 50 and 75 per cent of the market was destroyed by fire, leaving an estimated 300 vendors without income for two weeks, as a limited state of emergency imposed after gunmen loyal to Coke started attacking police and soldiers served to severely restrict the movement of persons and goods in that area. Arrangements were eventually made for the relocation of the affected vendors to nearby markets such as the DC Tavares Market in the Three Miles area, where they could continue their trade.

The PIOJ surveyors conclude that 349,674, or some 13 per cent of Jamaica's population may have been directly affected by the events.

As was to be expected, the productive sectors suffered the bulk of the losses (93 per cent), with tourism taking the biggest hit from the loss of business and from having to find huge sums to spend on marketing and advertising to encourage visitors to return to the island. This was after travel advisories told them to stay away just ahead of the police/military operation on May 23.

Last July, the tourism industry said it urgently needed another stimulus package from the Government to recover from the battering it had endured.

Wayne Cummings, head of the Jamaica Hotel and Tourist Association (JHTA), noted that the Government's injection of US$10 million to boost advertising efforts was up against an estimated US$350 million fallout caused by the Tivoli incident which shut down the country's capital for more than three days.

PIOJ data indicated that total tourism arrivals reached 2.8 million in 2010 or 100,000 higher than in 2009; whilst foreign exchange earnings from tourism totalled US$1.99 billion, or 3.4 per cent higher year on year.

The PIOJ report also said that the distribution sector suffered 3.5 per cent of the impact, the infrastructure sector suffered 4.8 per cent of the total impact, with the bulk of the fall-out being in transportation, reflecting, in part, the disruption of operators on routes out of Kingston.

"Productivity losses represented 0.9 per cent of the total and stemmed from morbidity and loss of life, social distancing resulting in lost labour productivity," read the October 2010 report.

Business leaders told the Observer a month after the unrest that the stand-off between security forces and thugs in the city's western end left downtown businesses with losses of at least $100 million.

The costs to the health sector, the PIOJ report concluded, were US$1 million or approximately J$86.5 million.

"Not all costs were captured, such as costs of mounting the mobile health clinic," states the report.

It also tabulates the fallout in communication services as amounting to US$2.6 million.

Initial estimates for the cost of security operations was US$2.7 million, comprised of US$1.5 million for the Jamaica Constabulary Force and over US$1 million for the Jamaica Defence Force, plus US$0.16 million for the Office of the Public Defender.

Estimates of damage and losses incurred by the JCF during the civil unrest amounted to J$127 million and is further broken down into damage arising out of destruction of property — which accounted for 79 per cent. Included in this figure is the over J$70.5 million in losses at the Hannah Town Police Station, which was burned to the ground by gunmen; the J$10 million in damage to the Darling Street Police Station, and the J$4.2 million in damage caused to the Denham Town, Cross Roads and Kingston Central police stations.

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