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Two rather remarkable occurrences have happened this week and both of them speak to the success of Florida’s economy. First, Florida’s economy has grown from the 17th largest in the world to 15th. In fact, that’s illustrated by the countries, yes countries, we just passed on our way to the top 15. India and Mexico. In Florida, we have not quite 22 million people. Mexico’s population stands at 128 million. In India, they have 1.37 billion. That’s who Florida just passed. It’s nothing short of incredible. In separate but related good news we continue to outpace the rest of the country as well.
Florida’s Office of Economic and Demographic Research just updated Florida’s expected economic growth for the year. The number, at 1.9%, is 19% faster than the country as a whole. The pandemic was supposed to be a showstopper for Florida given our reliance on tourism and hospitality. Instead, the state through great leadership starting with Governor DeSantis, used the pandemic as an opportunity to continue to diversify our economy by adding new companies and new jobs while taking market share from states which locked down. Florida’s economy continues to be a great news story which only continues to get better.