Economía - descripción: Tourism, petroleum transshipment, and offshore finance are the mainstays of this small economy, which is closely tied to the outside world. The islands enjoy a high per capita income and a well-developed infrastructure as compared with other countries in the region. Almost all consumer and capital goods are imported, with Venezuela, the US, and Mexico being the major suppliers. Poor soils and inadequate water supplies hamper the development of agriculture.

Producto Bruto Interno (PBI): purchasing power parity - $2.4 billion (1998 est.)

PBI - Indice de Incremento real: -0.3% (1998 est.)

PBI - por capital: purchasing power parity - $11,800 (1998 est.)

PBI - Composición por Sector:
agriculture: 1%
industry: 15%
services: 84% (1996 est.)

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): 1.1% (1998)

Fuerza Laboral: 89,000

Fuerza Laboral - por ocupación: agriculture 1%, industry 13%, services 86% (1994 est.)

Indice de desempleo: 14.9% (1998 est.)

Presupuesto:
revenues: $710.8 million
expenditures: $741.6 million, including capital expenditures of $NA (1997 est.)

Industrias: tourism (Curacao, Sint Maarten, and Bonaire), petroleum refining (Curacao), petroleum transshipment facilities (Curacao and Bonaire), light manufacturing (Curacao)

Industrial production growth rate: NA%

Electricidad - Producción: 1.02 billion kWh (1998)

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

Electricidad - consumción: 949 million kWh (1998)

Electricidad - exportaciones: 0 kWh (1998)

Electricidad - importaciones: 0 kWh (1998)

Agricultura - productos: aloes, sorghum, peanuts, vegetables, tropical fruit

Exportaciones: $303 million (f.o.b., 1998)

Exporationes - comodidades: petroleum products 98% (1993)

Exportaciones - socios: US 17.5%, Guatemala 8%, Costa Rica 6.5%, The Bahamas 4.6%, Jamaica 4.1%, Chile 3.4% (1998)

Importaciones: $1.3 billion (c.i.f., 1998)

Importaciones - comodidades: crude petroleum 64%, food, manufactures (1993)

Importaciones - socios: Venezuela 35.3%, US 21%, Mexico 9.8%, Italy 5.4%, Netherlands 4.8%, Brazil 3.1% (1998)

Deuda - externa: $1.35 billion (1996)

Ayuda economica - recipiente: $NA; note - Netherlands provided a $97 million aid package in 1996

Moneda: 1 Netherlands Antillean guilder, gulden, or florin (NAf.) = 100 cents

Indice de intercambio: Netherlands Antillean guilders, gulden, or florins (NAf.) per US$1 - 1.790 (fixed rate since 1989)

Año Fiscal: calendar year