The Cayman Islands economy grew by 3.3% during the first nine months of 2024, reflecting “continued resilience” across key sectors such as services, construction and finance.
The latest data was published in the Economics and Statistics Office’s ‘Third Quarter Economic Report 2024’.
“Based on data for the first nine months of 2024, the real gross domestic product (GDP) is estimated to have expanded by 3.3%,” the report stated.
The performance was driven primarily by domestic demand, supported by strong growth in electricity and water (5.4%), health and social work (5.1%), public administration and defence (4.0%), wholesale and retail trade (3.7%), and construction (3%).
“The performance was broad-based, led by robust expansions in service sectors and a continued increase in construction activity,” the ESO noted.
Financial and insurance services, the largest contributor to GDP, increased by 2.7%, while real estate activities grew by 3.5% and business services by 3.7%.
Although tourism-related industries also posted gains, cruise ship arrivals declined.
“The hotels and restaurants sector is estimated to have expanded by 2.3% as stay-over arrivals improved, albeit offset by a contraction in cruise arrivals,” the report said.
For the first three quarters of 2024, central government recorded an overall surplus of CI$97.8 million, up from $72.3 million over the same period in 2023.
Government revenue rose by 5.4% to $856.7 million, while total expenditure grew by 2.9% to $758.9 million.
“The central government’s outstanding debt continued to decline to settle at $421.1 million,” the ESO said, noting this was down from $469 million at the end of September 2023.
The unemployment rate was estimated at 2.4% “consistent with the economy operating near its natural level of employment”, and inflation averaged 2.4% over the period.
As a result of the economy’s momentum, the full-year GDP growth forecast was revised upward.
“The Cayman Islands’ real GDP is now expected to grow by 3.1% for the year 2024,” the ESO said, increasing its forecast from 2.7% previously.
Despite solid growth in financial services output, the number of bank and trust licences fell by 10.6% year-on-year to 84. Insurance licences rose 2% to 720.
The total number of registered funds increased by 1.8% to 30,067. This included a 3.5% rise in private funds and a 0.3% decline in mutual funds.
Company registrations grew by 1.4%, while the number of active partnerships rose 6.3%.
The Cayman Islands Stock Exchange had 2,769 listings at the end of September, slightly down from 2,777 in 2023.
