REPRESENTATIVES from the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) yesterday released data on Guam’s gross domestic product for 2010.
The estimates show an increase of 1.2 percent in Guam’s GDP, which is slightly less than the U.S. GDP increase of 2.4 percent in the same year.
According to the estimates, the key drivers of the increase in Guam’s GDP were a 3.6 percent increase in government spending, a decrease of 3.7 percent in imports, and a 1.2 percent increase in exports of services (tourism).
The industry that did not do well in 2010 was retail sales, which decreased by 3.3 percent.
“The primary purpose is to sort of gauge the economy, know how the different sectors of your economy is performing and basically to give folks the tool to perform economic policy to improve the economy moving forward,” explained BEA Deputy Director Bran Moyer.
Karl Pangelinan, administrator of the Guam Economic Development Authority, said: “Guam’s economy really is on a slow steady climb even as global and international markets are taking steps back. The 1.2 increase – although it’s not at the national level for that particular year – is still growth, and I think that’s a good sign with regard to our overall economy up to 2010. ”
When asked why there was a two-year lag in the reports, Moyer said the lag in numbers is not far behind state estimates because national numbers are provided before the breakdown of state numbers is available.
One of the initiatives of the BEA is to have the 2011 GDP estimates ready by 2013, depending on the availability of source data.
Nicole Mayer Hauser, chief of the National Income and Wealth Division, stated the numbers were calculated based on revenue, payroll compensation, average spending of Korean and Japanese spenders, import data, revenue data, consumption revenue, and government finance reports.
The estimates were developed by the Statistical Improvement Program, which was funded by the Office of Insular Affairs. This report is the first to break down the estimates by industry, compensation by industry, and detailed consumer spending.
