|
Economy overview:
Agriculture, dominated by banana production, is the most
important sector of this lower middle income economy. The
services sector, based mostly on a growing tourist industry,
is also important. The government has been relatively unsuccessful
at introducing new industries, and high unemployment rates
of 35%-40% continue. The continuing dependence on a single
crop represents the biggest obstacle to the islands' development;
tropical storms wiped out substantial portions of crops
in both 1994 and 1995. The tourism sector has considerable
potential for development over the next decade.
GDP:
purchasing power parityÜ$259 million (1996 est.)
GDP real growth
rate: 1% (1996 est.)
GDP per capita:
purchasing power parityÜ$2,200 (1996 est.)
GDP composition
by sector:
agriculture:
10.6%
industry: 17.5%
services: 71.9% (1996 est.)
Inflation
rate consumer price index: 3.6% (1996)
Labor force:
total: 67,000
(1984 est.)
by occupation: agriculture 26%, industry 17%, services
57% (1980 est.)
Unemployment
rate: 35%-40% (1994 est.)
Budget:
revenues: $80
million
expenditures:
$118 million, including capital expenditures of $39 million
(1996 est.)
Industries:
food processing, cement, furniture, clothing,
starch
Industrial
production growth rate: 0.3% (1995 est.)
Electricity
capacity: 14,000 kW (1995)
Electricity
production: 64 million kWh (1995)
Electricity
consumption per capita: 545 kWh (1995)
Agriculture
products: bananas, coconuts, sweet potatoes,
spices; small numbers of cattle, sheep, pigs, goats; small
fish catch used locally
Exports:
total value:
$46 million (f.o.b., 1996)
commodities: bananas 39%, eddoes and dasheen (taro),
arrowroot starch, tennis racquets
partners: Caricom countries 49%, UK 16%, US 10% (1995)
Imports:
total value:
$127 million (f.o.b., 1996)
commodities: foodstuffs, machinery and equipment,
chemicals and fertilizers, minerals and fuels
partners: US 36%, Caricom countries 28%, UK 13% (1995)
Debt external:
NA
Economic aid:
recipient: ODA,
$NA
Currency:
1 EC dollar (EC$) = 100 cents
Exchange rates:
East Caribbean dollars (EC$) per US$1Ü2.7000
(fixed rate since 1976)
Fiscal year:
calendar year
©
CIA 1998
|
