There were four sectors that continued to grow in 2009 in the midst of the worst global economic downturn. This finding is based on the GDP Report for 2009, also known as the System of National Accounts Report.

The GDP Report presents the results of the estimation of the gross domestic product for the entire country’s economy and for the 18 industries comprising it. The industries are classified using the International Standard Industrial Classification 4. The estimation was based on the results of the Annual Accounts Survey for 2008 and 2009 conducted by the Economics and Statistics Office from March to May 2010, augmented by data from administrative records of relevant government departments and statutory authorities.

GDP was estimated in the report using the production approach, where GDP was obtained by summing the value added of all industries. (Value added is equal to gross value of outputs minus the value of intermediate inputs).

In 2009, the GDP of the Cayman Islands at basic prices reached $2,541.56 million. (Basic price is the amount received by the producer less any tax paid such as duties on imports plus any subsidy for producing the good). This translates to a per capita GDP of $46,294.



Measured in terms of 2007 prices (also known as GDP in constant prices or GDP in real terms), GDP in 2009 amounted to $2,433.96 million. The corresponding per capita GDP amounted to $44,334.
The estimated GDP in 2009 represents a reduction in real terms of 7.0 per cent from the estimate for 2008. The top five sectors that contributed to this decline and their corresponding changes from 2008 are:

• Construction (-29.3 per cent);
• Financial and insurance services (-14.4 per cent);
• Wholesale and retail (-11.5 per cent);
• Hotels and restaurants (-10.2 per cent); and
• Transport and storage (-8.1 per cent).

On the other hand, the following sectors posted positive growth rates in 2009:

• Electricity, gas and air conditioning supply (1.7 per cent);
• Water supply, sewerage and waste management (5.7 per cent);
• Information and communication (6.4 per cent); and
• Professional, scientific and technical activities consisting primarily of legal and accounting activities (1.7 per cent).

The Cayman Islands’ GDP by industrial origin is summarized in Table 1.



The industry data also suggests the share of their value added to GDP and ranking in 2009, of which the top six are as follows (in descending order):

• Financial and insurance services, 42.9 per cent (despite the decline of economic activity in this sector in 2000, its contribution to GDP remained the highest);
• Professional, scientific and technical activities consisting primarily of legal and accounting activities (13.3 per cent);
• Wholesale and retail trade (8.9 per cent);
• Real estate activities (8.7 per cent);
• Public administration and defence consisting primarily of central government operations (7.5 per cent);
• Information and communication (5.0 per cent); and hotels and restaurants (5.0 per cent).