A recently commissioned Chamber of Commerce economic impact study on COVID-19 projects that between 10,712 and 14,048 jobs may be lost in the Cayman Islands as a result of the pandemic, depending on the ‘lockdown’ period assumed.

The Chamber said that the study was carried out to better understand the likely impacts and assist both the government and the private sector in responding to the crisis. The study was carried out by local consulting company FTS.

“It’s fair to say that everyone knows the impact is negative and we are all concerned. But we felt that carrying out a formal assessment is an important first step. This enables us to better understand how certain sectors will be impacted and importantly the magnitude of the responses required to assist workers,” explained Chamber President Mr. Woody Foster.

Mr. Foster explained that the study also provides information to help key community stakeholders better gauge the magnitude of the social challenges that are currently unfolding.

A copy of the report has been shared with the Government.

“The study recognises the significant measures already taken by the government and their related success factors. This impact assessment is a first step and the country now needs to move quickly towards the development of a proposed economic resumption plan, with the public and private sector stakeholders working closely together.    The Chamber is  looking forward to working collaboratively with the government on a plan to be implemented when the government and its medical experts decide that some domestic economic activity may resume in the country,” he said.

Minister of Commerce Mr. Joey Hew said, “The government continues to place the safety and lives of everyone as the priority.  At the same time we are making significant efforts to ensure that the local economy can safely resume when the time is right and we look forward to working closely with the Chamber on this.”

The Chamber also gave credit to the government for its timely response to the pandemic.

“The fact that we are in a position to begin our planning for some form of economic resumption is a credit to the government’s quick actions to address the safety of everyone at the early onset of this pandemic. In some countries the crisis and related fatalities are to such an extent that it’s difficult to begin planning for the next phase. We are hopeful that if everyone continues to abide by the shelter in place, hygiene and social distancing measures introduced by the Cayman Islands government, we will be in a position to reopen the economy in a measured and safe fashion guided by the government and medical experts,” said Mr. Foster.

Minister of Finance and Economic Development Mr. Roy McTaggart said, “We are grateful for the efforts of the Chamber in its response to the pandemic. A successful resumption of activity within the domestic economy will require a truly collaborative effort by all community stakeholders and we look forward to working jointly with the private sector on these initiatives moving forward”.

The study includes the results of a significant survey of over 300 local businesses which indicates that 1,416 employees have already lost their jobs between March 13^th and April 17^th.

“What these results demonstrate is that the businesses surveyed have laid off approximately 16% of their staff within the first 4 weeks, explained Mr. Foster. Taking into account that the businesses surveyed represents around 18% of all jobs in the country the national unemployment situation currently is likely to be much more dire”, said Mr. Foster.