Overview: Tourism is the mainstay of the economy, although offshore banking and oil refining and storage are also important. Hotel capacity expanded rapidly between 1985 and 1989 and nearly doubled in 1990 alone. Unemployment has steadily declined from about 20% in 1986 to about 3% in 1991 and to less than 1% in 1992. The reopening of the local oil refinery, once a major source of employment and foreign exchange earnings, promises to give the economy an additional boost.

National product: GDP - exchange rate conversion - $1.2 billion (1993 est.)

National product real growth rate: 5% (1993)

National product per capita: $17,400 (1993 est.)

Inflation rate (consumer prices): 6.5% (1993)

Unemployment rate: 0.6% (1992)

Budget:
revenues: $145 million
expenditures: $185 million, including capital expenditures of $42 million (1988)

Exports: $1.3 billion (including oil re-exports) (f.o.b., 1993 est.)
commodities: mostly petroleum products
partners: US 64%, EC

Imports: $1.6 billion including oil for processing and re-export (f.o.b., 1993 est.)
commodities: food, consumer goods, manufactures, petroleum products
partners: US 8%, EC

External debt: $81 million (1987)

Industrial production: growth rate NA%

Electricity:
capacity: 90,000 kW
production: 375 million kWh
consumption per capita: 6,000 kWh (1990 est.)

Industries: tourism, transshipment facilities, oil refining

Agriculture: poor quality soils and low rainfall limit agricultural activity to the cultivation of aloes, some livestock, and fishing

Illicit drugs: drug money laundering center and transit point for narcotics bound for the US and Europe

Economic aid:
recipient: Western (non-US) countries ODA and OOF bilateral commitments (1980-89), $220 million

Currency: 1 Aruban florin (Af.) = 100 cents
Exchange rates: Aruban florins (Af.) per US$1 - 1.7900 (fixed rate since 1986)

Fiscal year: calendar year

NOTE: The information regarding Aruba on this page is re-published from the 1995 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Aruba Economy 1995 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Aruba Economy 1995 should be addressed to the CIA.