Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Economy:
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 has suffered low arrivals following 11 September 2001. Saint Vincent is home to a small offshore banking sector and has moved to adopt international regulatory standards. Saint Vincent is also a large producer of marijuana and is being used as a transshipment point for illegal narcotics from South America.
GDP (purchasing power parity):
$342 million (2002 est.)
GDP real growth rate:
0.7% (2002 est.)
GDP per capita:
purchasing power parity: $2,900 (2002 est.)
GDP composition by sector:
agriculture: 10%
industry: 26%
services: 64%
(2001)
Labor force:
67,000 (1984 est.)
Labor force by occupation:
services: 57%, agriculture: 26%, industry: 17% (1980 est.)
Unemployment rate:
15% (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.)
Budget:
revenues: $94.6 million (2000 est.)
expenditures: $85.8 million including capital expenditures of NA (2000 est.)
Agriculture products:
Bananas, coconuts, sweet potatoes, spices, small numbers of cattle, sheep, pigs, goats, fish
Industries:
food processing, cement, furniture, clothing, starch
Industrial production growth rate:
-0.9% (1997 est.)
Electricity production:
91.2 million million kWh (2002 est.)
Electricity consumption:
84.82 million kWh (2002 est.)
Electricity exports:
0 kWh (2002 est.)
Electricity imports:
0 kWh (2002 est.)
Oil production:
0 bbl/day (2001 est.)
Oil consumption:
1,250 bbl/day (2001 est.)
Oil exports:
NA
Oil imports:
NA
Exports:
$38 million (2002 est.)
Exports commodities:
bananas 39%, eddoes and dasheen, arrowroot starch, tennis racquets
Exports partners:
, UK 33.5%, Barbados 13.1%, Saint Lucia 11.5%, Trinidad and Tobago 9.9%, Antigua and Barbuda 8.3%, US 5.3%, Grenada 5.3%, Dominica 4.1% (2004)
Imports:
$174 million (2002 est.)
Imports commodities:
foodstuffs, machinery and equipment, chemicals and fertilizers, minerals and fuels
Imports partners:
US 37.5%, Trinidad and Tobago 21.3%, UK 10.5% (2004)
Debt external:
$167.2 million (2000 est.)
Economic aid recipient:
$47.5 million (1995 est.)
note: EU $34.5 million (1998)
Currency:
East Caribbean dollar (XCD)
Exchange rates:
East Caribbean dollars per US$: 2.7 (2004 est.), 2.7 (2003 est.), 2.7 (2002 est.), 2.7 (2001 est.), 2.7 (2000 est.)
Fiscal year:
calendar year
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