Above: Bermuda

By the Caribbean Journal staff

Bermuda’s GDP contracted by between 2 and 2.5 percent in 2013, according to estimates from the island’s Ministry of Finance included in the recently-released National Economic Report.

That was lower than the economy’s contraction in 2012, when GDP fell by around 4.9 percent.

The total number of jobs in Bermuda fell by 2.6 percent, with unemployment rate finishing last year at 7 percent.

The National Economic Report found that while major economic indicators like employment, construction activity and cruise arrivals fell last year, other areas like international business, air arrivals and balance of payments improved.

Bermuda’s experienced a 1.8 percent increase in air arrivals, although cruise arrivals fell by 10.1 percent.

That represented a total of 236,343 air arrivals in 2013, and came after the first half of the year actually reported two consecutive quarterly declines in air arrivals. The year-end total was boosted by consecutive increases in the third and fourth quarter.

Bermuda’ hotel occupancy concluded 2013 at 57 percent, an increase of 1 percent over last year’s figures.

Employment in the country’s hotel sector fell by 2 percent as well, according to the report.

For 2014, the report projected a change in GDP of between -0.5 and 0.5 percent.