Overview: A per capita income of $5,405 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 17% in 1988 remains one of the most serious economic problems facing the country.

GDP: $1.4 billion, per capita $5,405; real growth rate 0.6% (1987 est.)

Inflation rate (consumer prices): 3.3% (1987)

Unemployment: 17.3% (June 1988)

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

Exports: $156 million (f.o.b., 1987); @m5commodities--sugar and molasses, electrical components, clothing, rum, machinery and transport equipment
@m5partners: US 30%, CARICOM, UK, Puerto Rico, Canada

Imports: $515 million (c.i.f., 1987); @m5commodities--foodstuffs, consumer durables, raw materials, crude oil; @m5partners--US 34%, CARICOM, Japan, UK, Canada

External debt: $410 million (December 1987)

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

Electricity: 132,000 kW capacity; 452 million kWh produced, 1,760 kWh per capita (1988)

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 (1970-86), $138 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 1989 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Barbados Economy 1989 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Barbados Economy 1989 should be addressed to the CIA.