supporting infrastructures and services. In that connection, he pointed out that 60 per cent of the country's GNP was generated by tourism. He said, however, that growth based on tourism and its measurement in terms of GNP as an economic indicator was misleading because it did not take into account the vulnerability of many IDCs. He said that last year a single hurricane had destroyed in 12 hours the 50 years it had taken for his Government to provide a functioning electricity-delivery system. The damage done to the economy exceeded the aggregate export earnings combined. He noted that the areas where development efforts should be focused included institutionalizing aid, financing public works projects, training, disaster prevention, access to markets, strengthening investment credits and agricultural services, research into crop and product diversification, development of agro-industrial activities and land management systems and development of science and technology. A/CONF.147/5 TD/B/AC.46/4 page 6 13. The representative of Jamaica noted that because of the special circumstances of IDCs they had not frequently benefited from measures taken in favour of the developing world as a whole. He pointed out that in addition to the general problems faced by developing countries, IDCs suffered handicaps which resulted from an interplay of factors both intrinsic and acquired, which included those of smallness and remoteness, poor resource endowment, environmental fragility, vulnerability to disasters, migration and human resource scarcity, inadequate transport and social structure and vulnerability of the external sector. Referring in particular to the problems that IDCs had faced in recent years, he noted that the heavy dependence of IDCs on exports had made them vulnerable to continued fluctuations of commodity prices for their exports. He furthermore said that their efforts at diversification were limited by their constraints of small size, limited human resources and diseconomies of scale which placed them at a competitive disadvantage in 
**Analysis**
The text discusses the challenges faced by Small Island Developing States (SIDS) in achieving economic development, with a focus on the limitations and vulnerabilities that affect their growth. It highlights the importance of considering these specific challenges when measuring economic growth, and the need for targeted support to address their unique circumstances.

**Category**
Economic development, International trade