The Cayman Islands’ Compendium of Statistics 2010 Released

"The Hon Premier and Minister for Finance, Tourism & Development welcomes the release of the Cayman Islands’ Compendium of Statistics 2010"

The Hon Premier and Minister for Finance, Tourism & Development welcomes the release of the Cayman Islands’ Compendium of Statistics 2010 which provides a comprehensive statistical picture of the economy and social conditions in the Cayman Islands.
The challenges arising from the performance of the economy in the 2010 calendar year, have impacted the demand for social services. All categories of social services experienced higher demand. A total of 7,859 persons were assisted by the Department of Children and Family Services in 2010, or an increase of 19 percent over 2009. There were 631 new cases of persons seeking assistance in 2010 when compared to 454 persons the previous year.

The restructuring of the central government also continued in 2010, with the total number of filled posts declining to 3,618 in 2010. This represents a reduction of 76 posts when compared to 2009, which is in-keeping with Government’s objective to improve its fiscal results and return the country to sustained surplus results. Almost all Ministries, Portfolios and Departments saw a reduction in the number of posts filled. The largest reduction, 48 posts, was recorded by the Ministry of District Administration, Works, Land and Agriculture. At the end of 2010, the largest Government agency was the Ministry of Education, Training and Employment with 844 employees followed by the Portfolio of Internal and External Affairs ??? with 839 employees, covering the uniformed agencies such as Police, Immigration and Prison.

The Premier noted that ⫿whilst the performance of the economy was challenged during the 2010 calendar year, the forecast for the 2011 calendar year is for positive and real GDP growth in the economy of 0.9% and, for the Government’s fiscal year ending 30 June 2012, real GDP growth in the economy is expected to be 1.5%. It is precisely for the noble reason of improving the state of the local economy that the Government is encouraging the advancement of projects, particularly in the private sector ??? as public sector projects must remain restrained by responsible and prudent fiscal management considerations???.

Despite the economic challenges, the Premier also noted thatsome sectors continued to advance.
Enrolment in reception to secondary Government schools showed an increase of 3.2 percent over the 4,712 students enrolled in 2009. This occurred despite a cut in the schools’ recurrent expenditures by 11.6 percent.
Enrolment in the Bachelors degree programme at the University College of the Cayman Islands also showed a noticeable increase moving from 91 students in 2009 to 130 students in 2010, a 43 percent increase.
The public health sector’s capacity remained unaffected: with outpatient, casualty and district clinic visits recorded at 149,429 in 2010. This is only marginally less that the 150,157 visits in 2009. Discharges from Government’s George Town Hospital remained almost unchanged at 5,233 when compared to the 2009 year while the Faith Hospital on Cayman Brac discharged 436 patients for an increase of 21 percent over the level for 2009.
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