Economía - descripción: Historically, the Barbadian economy had been dependent on sugarcane cultivation and related activities, but production in recent years has diversified into manufacturing and tourism. The start of the Port Charles Marina project in Speightstown helped the tourism industry continue to expand in 1996-99. Offshore finance and informatics are important foreign exchange earners, and there is also a light manufacturing sector. The government continues its efforts to reduce the unacceptably high unemployment rate, encourage direct foreign investment, and privatize remaining state-owned enterprises.

Producto Bruto Interno (PBI): purchasing power parity - $2.9 billion (1998 est.)

PBI - Indice de Incremento real: 4.4% (1998 est.)

PBI - por capital: purchasing power parity - $11,200 (1998 est.)

PBI - Composición por Sector:
agriculture: 4.9%
industry: 15.6%
services: 79.5% (1997)

Población bajo linea de pobertad: NA%

Ingreso en casa o porcentage de consumción:
lowest 10%: NA%
highest 10%: NA%

Indice de Inflación (precios del consumidor): 1.7% (1998)

Fuerza Laboral: 136,000 (1998 est.)

Fuerza Laboral - por ocupación: services 75%, industry 15%, agriculture 10% (1996 est.)

Indice de desempleo: 12% (1998 est.)

Presupuesto:
revenues: $725.5 million
expenditures: $750.6 million, including capital expenditures of $126.3 million (FY97/98 est.)

Industrias: tourism, sugar, light manufacturing, component assembly for export

Industrial production growth rate: 0.8% (1996)

Electricidad - Producción: 672 million kWh (1998)

Electricidad - producción por fuente:
fossil fuel: 100%
hydro: 0%
nuclear: 0%
other: 0% (1998)

Electricidad - consumción: 625 million kWh (1998)

Electricidad - exportaciones: 0 kWh (1998)

Electricidad - importaciones: 0 kWh (1998)

Agricultura - productos: sugarcane, vegetables, cotton

Exportaciones: $211.2 million (1998)

Exporationes - comodidades: sugar and molasses, rum, other foods and beverages, chemicals, electrical components, clothing

Exportaciones - socios: UK 14.8%, US 11.6%, Trinidad and Tobago 7.6%, Venezuela 6.1%, Jamaica 5.8% (1998)

Importaciones: $1.01 billion (1998)

Importaciones - comodidades: consumer goods, machinery, foodstuffs, construction materials, chemicals, fuel, electrical components

Importaciones - socios: US 30.7%, Trinidad and Tobago 10.2%, Japan 8.3%, UK 7.7%, Canada 2.2% (1998)

Deuda - externa: $550 million (1998 est.)

Ayuda economica - recipiente: $9.1 million (1995)

Moneda: 1 Barbadian dollar (Bds$) = 100 cents

Indice de intercambio: Barbadian dollars (Bds$) per US$1 - 2.0000 (fixed rate pegged to the US dollar)

Año Fiscal: 1 April - 31 March