Economy - overview:
The Caribbean economy depends on agriculture, tourism, light
industry, and services. It also depends on France for large
subsidies and imports. Tourism is a key industry, with most tourists
from the US; an increasingly large number of cruise ships visit the
islands. The traditional sugarcane crop is slowly being replaced by
other crops, such as bananas (which now supply about 50% of export
earnings), eggplant, and flowers. Other vegetables and root crops
are cultivated for local consumption, although Guadeloupe is still
dependent on imported food, mainly from France. Light industry
features sugar and rum production. Most manufactured goods and fuel
are imported. Unemployment is especially high among the young.
Hurricanes periodically devastate the economy.
GDP:
purchasing power parity - $3.7 billion (1997 est.)
GDP - real growth rate:
NA%
GDP - per capita:
purchasing power parity - $9,000 (1997 est.)
GDP - composition by sector:
agriculture: 15%
industry: 17%
services: 68% (1997 est.)
Population below poverty line:
NA%
Household income or consumption by percentage share:
lowest 10%: NA%
highest 10%: NA%
Inflation rate (consumer prices):
NA%
Labor force:
125,900 (1997)
Labor force - by occupation:
NA
Unemployment rate:
27.8% (1998)
Budget:
revenues: $225 million
expenditures: $390 million, including capital expenditures of $105
million (1996)
Industries:
construction, cement, rum, sugar, tourism
Industrial production growth rate:
NA%
Electricity - production:
1.155 billion kWh (2001)
Electricity - production by source:
fossil fuel: 100%
hydro: 0%
other: 0% (2001)
nuclear: 0%
Electricity - consumption:
1.074 billion kWh (2001)
Electricity - exports:
0 kWh (2001)
Electricity - imports:
0 kWh (2001)
Oil - production:
0 bbl/day (2001 est.)
Oil - consumption:
13,000 bbl/day (2001 est.)
Oil - exports:
NA (2001)
Oil - imports:
NA (2001)
Agriculture - products:
bananas, sugarcane, tropical fruits and vegetables; cattle, pigs,
goats
Exports:
$140 million f.o.b. (1997)
Exports - commodities:
bananas, sugar, rum
Exports - partners:
France 60%, Martinique 18%, US 4% (1999)
Imports:
$1.7 billion c.i.f. (1997)
Imports - commodities:
foodstuffs, fuels, vehicles, clothing and other consumer goods,
construction materials
Imports - partners:
France 63%, Germany 4%, US 3%, Japan 2%, Netherlands Antilles 2%
(1999)
Debt - external:
$NA
Economic aid - recipient:
$NA; note - substantial annual French subsidies
Currency:
euro (EUR); French franc (FRF)
Currency code:
EUR; FRF
Exchange rates:
euros per US dollar - 1.06 1.0626 (2002), 1.1175 (2001), 1.0854
(2000), 0.9386 (1999); French francs per US dollar - 5.8995 (1998)
Fiscal year:
calendar year