Economy - overview:
Bananas and other agricultural products remain the staple of this
lower-middle income country's economy. Although tourism and other
services have been growing moderately in recent years, the
government has been ineffective at introducing new industries.
Unemployment remains high, and economic growth 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 has suffered low arrivals following
11 September 2001. Saint Vincent is home to a small offshore banking
sector, but its restrictive secrecy laws have come under
international review. As of June 2001, it remained on the Financial
Action Task Force's list of noncooperative jurisdictions. Saint
Vincent is also the largest producer of marijuana in the Eastern
Caribbean and is increasingly being used as a transshipment point
for illegal narcotics from South America.
GDP:
purchasing power parity - $339 million (2002 est.)
GDP - real growth rate:
-0.5% (2002 est.)
GDP - per capita:
purchasing power parity - $2,900 (2002 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%
Inflation rate (consumer prices):
-0.4% (2001 est.)
Labor force:
67,000 (1984 est.)
Labor force - by occupation:
agriculture 26%, industry 17%, services 57% (1980 est.)
Unemployment rate:
22% (1997 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:
92.48 million kWh (2001)
Electricity - production by source:
fossil fuel: 69.3%
hydro: 30.7%
other: 0% (2001)
nuclear: 0%
Electricity - consumption:
86 million kWh (2001)
Electricity - exports:
0 kWh (2001)
Electricity - imports:
0 kWh (2001)
Oil - production:
0 bbl/day (2001 est.)
Oil - consumption:
1,250 bbl/day (2001 est.)
Oil - exports:
NA (2001)
Oil - imports:
NA (2001)
Agriculture - products:
bananas, coconuts, sweet potatoes, spices; small numbers of cattle,
sheep, pigs, goats; fish
Exports:
$53.7 million (2000 est.)
Exports - commodities:
bananas 39%, eddoes and dasheen (taro), arrowroot starch, tennis
racquets
Exports - partners:
France 25.2%, Greece 19.1%, Spain 16.4%, UK 9.5%, US 7.1% (2002)
Imports:
$185.6 million (2000 est.)
Imports - commodities:
foodstuffs, machinery and equipment, chemicals and fertilizers,
minerals and fuels
Imports - partners:
France 32.7%, US 11.3%, Trinidad and Tobago 10.4%, Singapore 10.1%,
Spain 7.9%, Greece 4.3% (2002)
Debt - external:
$167.2 million (2000)
Economic aid - recipient:
$47.5 million (1995); note - EU $34.5 million (1998)
Currency:
East Caribbean dollar (XCD)
Currency code:
XCD
Exchange rates:
East Caribbean dollars per US dollar - 2.7 (2002), 2.7 (2001), 2.7
(2000), 2.7 (1999), 2.7 (1998)
Fiscal year:
calendar year