Moyer and Assistant Secretary of the Interior Tony Babauta released the GDP estimates for Guam for 2008 and 2009 yesterday during a press conference in Adelup.
The source of the growth for the two years was an increase in federal government spending, said Moyer. This included not only compensation (payment of wages and salaries from military personnel) but also from government construction activity, said Moyer.
Federal government spending for 2008 on Guam was 4.3 percent, and in 2009 grew to 9.3 percent, said Moyer.
“Much of this spending was by the Department of Defense. federal government spending was the driver in the economy,” said Moyer.
“The drag on Guam GDP over these two years was primarily the tourism industry,” he added.
One graph, under “Export of Services,” refers primarily to tourism, which showed Guam’s number one industry down 12.1 percent in 2008 and down 9 percent in 2009.
The reason, said Moyer, is partly due to the worldwide recession at that time. Consumer spending also played a role including the purchases of food, gasoline and everyday items consumers are using, said Moyer.
In 2008, consumer spending was flat, meaning it did not grow and there was zero percent growth. In 2009, it declined 1.5 percent.
“This is largely in response to higher prices that consumers faced in the market,” he added.
Babauta said the data presented was the result of a two-year partnership with his department and BEA. Babauta said it was important to recognize and understand the economies of all territories and the “gold standard” of developing and presenting the data was the BEA.
“Guam is one of the shining stars in terms of the analysis. Guam is kinda above the rest right now,” said Babauta. The assistant secretary said they are now able to record data, which he hopes will “drive economic policy with the full cooperation from the Executive branch, the Legislature and the business community, together.
“Figure out what policies need to change; what has to be altered; needs to be tweaked so that the economy grows,” said Babauta.
The report brings the territorial statistics in line with the release of state statistics, said Moyer.
“Now you can compare growth in Guam with growth in the mainland, as well as any other state in the union — even Japan,” he said.
The methodology used is the same one employed to prepare estimates that are used to prepare mainland states’ estimates.
“Moreover, this also allows them to compare growth rates internationally because the framework is driven by international guidelines and standards. This makes it a very powerful set of estimates,” said Moyer.
