{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["http://sablan.house.gov/press-release/gdp-down-then-2011-and-2012", "GDP down, then up for 2011 and 2012", "2013-12-02", "2013", "2013-12", "Independent", "Senate", "MP", "Gregorio Sablan", "S001177", "sablan.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis announced today that Gross Domestic Product in the Northern Mariana Islands decreased 6.8 percent in 2011, then increased 5.2 percent in 2012. The 2012 GDP remained, however, below the 2010 level. In 2010 GDP ticked up 1.1 percent following six straight years of declines.\n\u201cThe 2010 turn-around was largely the result of federal government grants to the Commonwealth and individuals from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act,\u201d Congressman Gregorio Kilili Camacho Sablan observed. \u201cAnd that spending seemed to have halted the freefall in our economy.\n\u201cThe 2011 and 2012 data are sending an unclear message about just where we are headed. Though, of course, we all we want to believe that the strong growth in 2012 was the beginning of a trend that will continue.\u201d\nGDP\u2014a sum of spending by consumers, government, and business\u2014fell from over $1.2 billion in 2002 to $593 million in 2012, now the most recent year for which data is available.\nIn its announcement today the Bureau of Economic Analysis cited fluctuations in tourism as well as local government austerity measures as significant contributors to the ups and downs in GDP in 2011 and 2012. The drop in tourism was attributed to the earthquake and tsunami that struck northern Japan in March 2011.\n\u201cBeing largely dependent on one industry, tourism, makes our economy vulnerable to external factors,\u201d Sablan said. \u201cThat is why it is so important that we diversify the sources of our tourism. When one of the countries that sends us tourists suffers a problem, tourists from other countries will not replace the loss. But at least our economy will have some cushion.\n\u201cThis is why we have to work hard to maintain the parole system that makes it easy for tourists from Russia and China to visit us.\u201d\n\u201cLooking at GDP should also remind us of the importance of keeping our population numbers up. Consumer spending is the bulk of GDP. Losing population, whether it is because people leave to find more opportunity or because of changes in immigration, hurts our economy. We cannot afford to lose any more population.\u201d\nThe Bureau of Economic Analysis, part of the U.S. Department of Commerce, began compiling GDP data for the Northern Mariana Islands and other U.S. insular areas in 2009 with funding from the U.S. Department of Interior\u2019s Office of Insular Affairs.\nThe data still lags the national survey of GDP, which is released one month after the end of each quarter. But island GDP is catching up. BEA says it will release the 2013 insular GDP in the summer of 2014.", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["http://sablan.house.gov/press-release/gdp-down-then-2011-and-2012"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.3600129168480635, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}