Most NMI economic indicators down

mv-Monday November 26, 2007 By Haidee V. Eugenio Variety Assistant Editor


EXCEPT for a 0.3 percent increase in hotel room rates and a 96 percent increase in the value of construction projects, all other major CNMI economic indicators — from business gross revenues to remittances, banking, automotive sales and general fund revenue — went down during the third quarter of 2007 compared to the same period last year.
The CNMI’s two major industries – garments and tourism – were down by 43 percent and 12 percent.
Garment exports reached only $71.62 million between July and September, compared to $126 million last year due to garment factory closures and a decline in orders from the U.S.
Tourist arrivals totaled only 99,629 in the third quarter this year compared to 113,540 last year.
Department of Commerce Secretary James A. Santos said the quarterly economic indicators “depict the social and economic conditions of the CNMI” in July to September.
Commerce compiles the data from government and private agencies included in the quarterly economic indicators report.
The CNMI business gross revenue dropped by 14 percent — from $457.8 million to $393 million in the third quarter.
General fund revenue or government collections from taxes and fees reached only $44.25 million in the third quarter, a 21 percent drop from last year’s $56.06 million. Government expenditures likewise dropped by 22 percent to $40.2 million.
Remittances also dropped by 13 percent, from $25.1 million last year to $21.9 million in this year’s third quarter.
Automotive sales declined by 14 percent to 288 in the third quarter.
As for banking activities, banks reported a 3 percent drop in total deposits — from $530.40 million to $514.26, and an 8 percent drop in total loans, from $182.7 million to $167.58 million. The loan-to-deposit ratio stood at 32.6 percent in this year’s third quarter compared to a year ago at 34.4 percent.
The average hotel occupancy rate stood at only 57.3 percent between July and September compared to 65 percent a year ago.
However, the average hotel daily room rate went up by 0.3 percent in the third quarter to $97.32 compared to $97 last year.
The CNMI imported only 113.66 tons of petroleum, oil, lubricants, food items, cement and other items, lower by 16 percent compared to last year’s 134.80 tons.
The number of phone lines dropped by 6 percent, from 30,945 to 29,166.
The government issued 56 building permits for commercial and residential construction projects valued at $4.5 million between July and September, an increase from the $2.29 million in construction projects a year ago.
The Department of Labor failed again to report the number of work permits issued by industry during the third quarter. It also failed to provide second-quarter data.
Last week, Commerce reported record-high prices of basic consumer goods in the third quarter of 2007 at 113.8 index points, mainly due to higher costs of food and utilities as a result of fuel price increases.