Hawaii's Economy Continues to Grow Slowly, Concern Over Prolonged Government Shutdown

A quarterly report issued by First Hawaii Bank indicated that Hawaii's economy continues to grow as evidenced by a 5.9 percent increase in credit and debit card card transactions for local businesses during the third quarter of 2013 as compared to the same quarter a year prior.  The bank is the largest local processor of debit and credit card transactions with nearly 7,000 merchants on their network.  President and CEO of First Hawaiian Bank, Bob Harrison, commented, "Although this quarter's gain (in card transactions) was modest compared to previous quarters, what we are seeing is that this third quarter is the 15th consecutive quarter of positive growth. That is a good indication for us that the economy continues to make steady gains."

However, Jack Suyderhoud, a professor of business economics at the University of Hawaii's Shidler College of Business and adviser to First Hawaiian Bank, warned that a prolonged federal government shutdown could slow growth significantly.  Suyderhoud stated, "The longer the shutdown lasts, the larger the impact will be. There's no doubt about the fact that it will have some impact. It's just that we don't know what the impact will be because we don't know how long it's going to last and we don't know the extent of the shutdown."

Source: Honolulu Star Advertiser, 10-13-2013, www.staradvertiser.com
Posted by Jeff Uyemura-Reyes, Broker-in-Charge, REALTOR®
Global Executive Realty, LLC
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