Economy (Saint Vincent and the Grenadines)
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     Overview:
         Agriculture, dominated by banana production, is the most important sector of
         the economy. The services sector, based mostly on a growing tourist
         industry, is also important. The economy continues to have a high
         unemployment rate of 30% because of an overdependence on the weather-plagued
         banana crop as a major export earner. Government progress toward
         diversifying into new industries has been relatively unsuccessful.
     GDP:
         exchange rate conversion - $146 million, per capita $1,300; real growth rate
         5.9% (1989)
     Inflation rate (consumer prices):
         3.0% (1990)
     Unemployment rate:
         30% (1989 est.)
     Budget:
         revenues $62 million; expenditures $67 million, including capital
         expenditures of $21 million (FY90 est.)
     Exports:
         $75 million (f.o.b., 1990)
       commodities:
         bananas, eddoes and dasheen (taro), arrowroot starch, tennis racquets, flour
       partners:
         UK 43%, CARICOM 37%, US 15%
     Imports:
         $130 million (f.o.b., 1990 est.)
       commodities:
         foodstuffs, machinery and equipment, chemicals and fertilizers, minerals and
         fuels
       partners:
         US 42%, CARICOM 19%, UK 15%
     External debt:
         $50.9 million (1989)
     Industrial production:
         growth rate 0% (1989); accounts for 14% of GDP
     Electricity:
         16,594 kW capacity; 64 million kWh produced, 560 kWh per capita (1991)
     Industries:
         food processing (sugar, flour), cement, furniture, clothing, starch, sheet
         metal, beverage
     Agriculture:
         accounts for 15% of GDP and 60% of labor force; provides bulk of exports;
         products - bananas, coconuts, sweet potatoes, spices; small numbers of
         cattle, sheep, hogs, goats; small fish catch used locally
     Economic aid:
         US commitments, including Ex-Im (FY70-87), $11 million; Western (non-US)
         countries, ODA and OOF bilateral commitments (1970-89), $81 million
     Currency:
         East Caribbean dollar (plural - dollars); 1 EC dollar (EC$) = 100 cents
     Exchange rates:
         East Caribbean dollars (EC$) per US$1 - 2.70 (fixed rate since 1976)
     Fiscal year:
         calendar year (as of January 1991); previously 1 July - 30 June