State Council on Revenues' Economic Predictions

According to state Council on Revenue's economic predictions, that Hawaiian Islands should see a 4.5 percent growth during the current fiscal year.  This is a significant increase from the 3.5 percent growth that was predicted in September 2014, and is due to increased consumer spending, lower gas prices, and additional tourists from the U.S. mainland.  Kurt Kawafuchi, the chairman of the Council on Revenues, commented, "The U.S. economy is very strong, and a lot of our tourists are from the mainland U.S. With the lower price of gas, people are going to have more money to spend because they're paying less for gas and electricity. We hope that contributes to more spending, more tourists and more spending in Hawaii."

Carl Bonhan, a professor of economics at the University of Hawaii at Manoa and another council member, added, "I'm still bullish on construction. There's several (projects) in Kaka­ako that are going up right now, and we're starting to see the neighbor islands start to contribute. Maui and Big Island are both seeing some growth that we didn't see at all a year ago or two years ago."

Kawafuchi cautioned that global concerns could still have an impact on Hawaii.  Kawafuchi added, "The strong U.S. economy has a downside. As the dollar gets stronger, it makes it more expensive, for example, for Japanese tourists or Chinese tourists to come to Hawaii. I think there's optimism, but people are being very cautious and careful."  The council have left the projected growth for the fiscal years of 2016 through 2021 unchanged at 5.5 percent per year.

Source: Honolulu Star Advertiser, 1-7-2015, www.staradvertiser.com
Posted by Jeff Uyemura-Reyes, Principal Broker, REALTOR®
Global Executive Realty, LLC
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