Latest CNMI gross domestic product report next week

U.S. Interior Assistant Secretary for Insular Areas Tony Babauta and representatives from the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Economic Analysis will be presenting next week the 2008 and 2009 CNMI gross domestic product estimates.

This comes a year after the U.S. Commerce released in May 2010 the first federal report on the CNMI’s GDP covering 2002 through 2007.

GDP represents the total value of goods and services produced by a country or territory.

Besides the presentation of the GDP report, House Speaker Eli Cabrera (R-Saipan) said yesterday he is not aware of other issues that Babauta may discuss with lawmakers.

Senate President Paul Manglona (Ind-Rota) and Cabrera issued a memo to all lawmakers on June 27, informing them of Babauta and other federal officials’ visit.

They said that Nicole Mayerhauser and Aya Hamano of U.S. Commerce’s Bureau of Economic Analysis will be presenting the 2008 and 2009 GDP estimates to the CNMI Legislature on Wednesday, July 13, at 1:30pm in the House chamber.

Manglona and Cabrera said that besides Babauta, also accompanying the representatives from U.S. Commerce will be Office of Insular Affairs economic Wali Osman.

The visiting officials are expected to present the 2008 and 2009 estimates for the major components of GDP, including consumer spending, private fixed investment, net exports, and government spending, as well as estimates of the major components of gross domestic income.

The CNMI’s GDP showed a 4.2 percent average annual decline between 2002 and 2007, according to the first GDP estimates report on the CNMI, released on May 5, 2010.

That first report confirmed what everybody already knew: the CNMI economy, as well as its population, had been shrinking.

The total amount of products and services produced in the CNMI in 2002 was $1.32 billion as measured in the inflation-adjusted GDP, and steadily declined since then until reaching just $962 million in 2007.

The first report also highlighted an unpleasant fact: Of the four U.S. territories, it was only the CNMI that experienced an economic contraction. Guam’s GDP grew at an average of 1.8 percent, while American Samoa increased at an average of 0.4 percent between 2002 and 2007. The U.S. Virgin Islands also posted an annual average GDP growth of 2.9 percent in the same period.