Overview: A per capita income of $5,250 gives Barbados the highest standard of living of all the small island states of the eastern Caribbean. Historically, the economy was based on the cultivation of sugarcane and related activities. In recent years, however, the economy has diversified into manufacturing and tourism. The tourist industry is now a major employer of the labor force and a primary source of foreign exchange. A high unemployment rate of about 19% in 1988 remains one of the most serious economic problems facing the country.

GDP: $1.3 billion, per capita $5,250 (1988 est.); real growth rate 3.7% (1989 est.)

Inflation rate (consumer prices): 4.7% (1988)

Unemployment: 18.6% (1988)

Budget: revenues $476 million; expenditures $543 million, including capital expenditures of $94 million (FY86)

Exports: $173 million (f.o.b., 1988); commodities--sugar and molasses, electrical components, clothing, rum, machinery and transport equipment;

partners: US 30%, CARICOM, UK, Puerto Rico, Canada

Imports: $582 million (c.i.f., 1988); commodities--foodstuffs, consumer durables, raw materials, crude oil; partners--US 34%, CARICOM, Japan, UK, Canada

External debt: $635 million (December 1989 est.)

Industrial production: growth rate - 5.4% (1987 est.)

Electricity: 132,000 kW capacity; 460 million kWh produced, 1,780 kWh per capita (1989)

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

Agriculture: accounts for 10% of GDP; major cash crop is sugarcane; other crops--vegetables and cotton; not self-sufficient in food

Aid: US commitments, including Ex-Im (FY70-84), $14 million; Western (non-US) countries, ODA and OOF bilateral commitments (1970-87), $144 million

Currency: Barbadian dollars (plural--dollars); 1 Barbadian dollar (Bds$) = 100 cents

Exchange rates: Barbadian dollars (Bds$) per US$1--2.0113 (fixed rate)

Fiscal year: 1 April-31 March

NOTE: The information regarding Barbados on this page is re-published from the 1990 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Barbados Economy 1990 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Barbados Economy 1990 should be addressed to the CIA.