| Economy - overview | Economic growth in this lower-middle-income country hinges upon seasonal variations in the agricultural and tourism sectors. Tropical storms wiped out substantial portions of crops in 1994, 1995, and 2002, and tourism in the Eastern Caribbean suffered low arrivals in the immediate aftermath of 11 September 2001. The islands had more than 160,000 tourist arrivals in 2005, mostly to the Grenadines. Saint Vincent is home to a small offshore banking sector and has moved to adopt international regulatory standards. Saint Vincent is also a producer of marijuana and is being used as a transshipment point for illegal narcotics from South America. |
|
| GDP | NA |
|
| GDP - real growth rate | 4.9% (2005 est.) |
|
| GDP - composition by sector | agriculture: 10%
industry: 26%
services: 64% (2001 est.) |
|
| Population below poverty line | NA% |
|
Household income or consumption
by percentage share | lowest 10%: NA%
highest 10%: NA% |
|
| Labor force | 41,680 (1991 est.) |
|
| Labor force - by occupation | agriculture: 26%
industry: 17%
services: 57% (1980 est.) |
|
| Unemployment rate | 15% (2001 est.) |
|
| Budget | revenues: $94.6 million
expenditures: $85.8 million; including capital expenditures of $NA (2000 est.) |
|
| Industries | food processing, cement, furniture, clothing, starch |
|
| Industrial production growth rate | -0.9% (1997 est.) |
|
Electricity -
production | 114 million kWh (2004) |
|
Electricity -
production by source | fossil fuel: 69.3%
hydro: 30.7%
nuclear: 0%
other: 0% (2001) |
|
Electricity -
consumption | 106 million kWh (2004) |
|
Electricity -
exports | 0 kWh (2004) |
|
Electricity -
imports | 0 kWh (2004) |
|
| Oil - production | 0 bbl/day (2004 est.) |
|
| Oil - consumption | 1,400 bbl/day (2004 est.) |
|
| Oil - exports | NA bbl/day |
|
| Oil - imports | NA bbl/day |
|
| Agriculture - products | bananas, coconuts, sweet potatoes, spices; small numbers of cattle, sheep, pigs, goats; fish |
|
| Exports | $37 million (2004 est.) |
|
| Exports - commodities | bananas 39%, eddoes and dasheen (taro), arrowroot starch; tennis racquets |
|
| Exports - partners | UK 26.7%, Barbados 12.7%, Trinidad and Tobago 12.3%, Saint Lucia 10.9%, US 9.2%, Dominica 7.2%, Grenada 6.8%, Antigua and Barbuda 6.2% (2005) |
|
| Imports | $225 million (2004 est.) |
|
| Imports - commodities | foodstuffs, machinery and equipment, chemicals and fertilizers, minerals and fuels |
|
| Imports - partners | US 33.3%, Trinidad and Tobago 23.6%, UK 9.4%, Japan 4.2% (2005) |
|
| Debt - external | $223 million (2004) |
|
| Economic aid - recipient | $10.5 million (1995); note - EU $34.5 million (2004) |
|
| Currency code | XCD |
|
| Exchange rates | East Caribbean dollars per US dollar - 2.7 (2006), 2.7 (2005), 2.7 (2004), 2.7 (2003), 2.7 (2002) |
|
| Fiscal year | calendar year |
|
