Report: 2008 a bleak year for Northern Marianas Islands

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( Tom DeLay- conditions of the Marianas constituted "a perfect petri dish of capitalism" )

Thursday, February 12, 2009
Local
Friday, February 06, 2009

Report: 2008 a bleak year for NMI

By Haidee V. Eugenio
Reporter

Major economic indicators like business gross revenue, garment exports, import tonnage, remittances, tourist arrivals, and vehicle sales either plunged or remained the same in calendar year 2008 compared to 2007. Overall, the CNMI economy was at its worst in at least the last five years and is expected to get worse in 2009.

Business gross revenue went up slightly by 0.9 percent-from $1.672 billion in 2007 to $1.688 billion in 2008, but this is still much lower than the annual business sales of up to $2.034 billion since 2004...

Saipan garment factory closures resulted in a 68 percent drop in the value of garment exports, reaching only $98.21 million in 2008 from $307.57 million the previous year. With the planned closure of the two remaining factories early this year, the CNMI will have virtually no garment income to speak of by the end of the year. Saipan used to have over 30 factories...

Due to the exodus of foreign workers, overseas remittances reached only $76.8 million in 2008, an 18-percent drop from the $93.6 million recorded the previous year. Quarterly remittances went below $20 million for the first time in the last three quarters of 2008...