Wayzata World Factbook 1995/World Factbook - 1995 Edition - Wayzata Technology (1995).iso/mac/text/Build/orig BACKGR/BNOT0010.TXT

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National Trade Data Bank
ITEM ID     : ST BNOTES BARBADOS
DATE        : Oct 28, 1994

AGENCY      : U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
PROGRAM     : BACKGROUND NOTES
TITLE       : Background Notes - BARBADOS

Source key      : ST
Program key     : ST BNOTES
Update sched.   : Occasionally
Data type       : TEXT
End year        : 1993
Date of record  : 19941018
Keywords 3      :
Keywords 3      : | BARBADOS

BACKGROUND NOTES:  BARBADOS, JANUARY 1993
PUBLISHED BY THE BUREAU OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS
US DEPARTMENT OF STATE


JANUARY 1993

Official Name:  Barbados

PROFILE

Geography
Area:  431 sq. km. (166 sq. mi.); about three times the size of
Washington, DC.  Cities:  Capital--Bridgetown.  Terrain:  Flat,
rising to a ridge in the center.  Climate:  Tropical.

People
Nationality:  Noun and adjective--Barbadian(s); also "Bajan(s)".
Population (1992):  259,300.  Avg. annual growth rate:  0.2%.
Ethnic groups:  African 80%, mixed 16%, European 4%.  Religions:
Anglican 70%, Roman Catholic, Methodist, Baptist, and Moravian.
Language:  English.  Education:  Attendance--primary school 100%,
secondary school 93%.  Adult literacy--99%.  Health (1992):
Infant mortality rate--9/1,000.  Life expectancy--73 yrs. men, 75
yrs. women.  Work force (124,800, 1992):  Commerce and
tourism--25%.  Government--23%.  Manufacturing--11%.  Agriculture
& fishing--6%.

Government
Type:  Parliamentary democracy; independent sovereign state
within the Commonwealth.  Independence:  November 30, 1966.
Constitution:  1966.

Branches:  Executive--governor general (representing Queen
Elizabeth II, head of state), prime minister (head of
government), cabinet.  Legislative--bicameral parliament.
Judicial--magistrate's courts, Supreme Court (High Court and
Court of Appeals), privy council.

Subdivisions:  11 parishes and the city of Bridgetown.

Political parties:  Democratic Labor Party (incumbent), Barbados
Labor Party (official opposition), National Democratic Party
(opposition).

Defense:  About 2.5% of budget.

Flag:  Three vertical bands (blue, yellow, blue) with a broken
trident in the center.

Economy
GDP (1992):  $1.7 billion.  Real GDP growth rate:  -4%.  Per
capita GDP:  $6,500.  Average inflation rate:  6.1%.
Unemployment rate (1992):  23%.

Natural resources:  Petroleum, limestone.

Agriculture (8% of GDP):  Sugar accounts for 3.4% of GDP and 80%
of arable land.

Industry (10% of GDP):  Manufacturing--food, beverages, textiles,
paper, chemicals, fabricated products.

Trade:  Exports--$194 million.  Major markets--CARICOM 31%, UK
17%, US 13%.  Imports--$704 million.  Major suppliers--US 34%,
European Economic Community 19% (UK accounts for 11% of all
suppliers), CARICOM 16%, Japan 3%.

Official exchange rate:  US$1=BDS$2.


PEOPLE
Barbados' population is about 80% African, 4% European, and 16%
mixed.  About 70% of Barbadians are Anglican, and the rest mostly
Roman Catholic, Methodist, Baptist, and Moravian.  There are also
small Jewish and Muslim communities.  Barbados' population growth
rate has been very low--under 1% since the 1960s, largely through
family planning efforts and a high emigration rate.

HISTORY
British sailors who landed on Barbados at the site of present-day
Holetown in 1624 or 1625 found it uninhabited.  Arawak Indians
may have been native to the island but were later annihilated,
apparently by marauding Caribs, who are believed to have
subsequently abandoned the island.  From the arrival of the first
British settlers in 1627-28 until independence in 1966, Barbados
was under uninterrupted British control.  Nevertheless, Barbados
always enjoyed a large measure of local autonomy.  Its House of
Assembly, which began meeting in 1639, is the third oldest
legislative body in the Western Hemisphere--preceded only by
Bermuda's legislature and the Virginia House of Burgesses.

As the sugar industry developed into the main commercial
enterprise, Barbados was divided into large plantation estates.
To work these plantations, slaves were brought from Africa, until
the slave trade ceased a few years before the abolition of
slavery throughout the British Empire in 1834.

Local politics were dominated by a group of British plantation
owners and merchants.  It was not until the 1930s that a movement
for political rights was begun by the descendants of emancipated
slaves.  One of the leaders of this movement, Sir Grantley Adams,
founded the Barbados Labor Party in 1938.

Progress toward more democratic government for Barbados was made
in 1951, when universal adult suffrage was introduced.  This was
followed by steps toward increased self-government, and in 1961,
Barbados achieved internal autonomy.

From 1958 to 1962, Barbados was one of 10 members of the West
Indies Federation, and Sir Grantley Adams served as its first and
only prime minister.  When the federation was terminated,
Barbados reverted to its former status as a self-governing
colony.  Following several attempts to form another federation
composed of Barbados and the Leeward and Windward Islands,
Barbados negotiated its own independence at a constitutional
conference with the United Kingdom in June 1966.  After years of
peaceful and democratic progress, Barbados became an independent
state within the British Commonwealth on November 30, 1966.

GOVERNMENT
Under its constitution, Barbados is a parliamentary democracy
modeled on the British system.  The governor general represents
the British crown.  Control of the government rests with the
cabinet, headed by the prime minister, which is responsible to
the parliament.

The bicameral parliament consists of the House of Assembly and
Senate.  The 28 members of the House are elected by universal
suffrage to 5-year terms.  Elections may be called at any time it
wishes to seek a new mandate or if the government suffers a vote
of no confidence in parliament.  The Senate's 21 members are
appointed by the governor general--12 with the advice of the
prime minister, 2 with the advice of the leader of the
opposition, and 7 at the governor general's discretion.

Barbados has an independent judiciary composed of magistrate
courts, which are statutorily authorized and a Supreme Court,
which is constitutionally mandated.  The Supreme Court consists
of the high court and the court of appeals, each with four
judges.  The Chief Justice serves on both the high court and the
court of appeals.  The court of last resort is the Judicial
Committee of Her Majesty's Privy Council, whose decisions are
binding on all parties.  Judges of the Supreme Court are
appointed by the governor general on the recommendation of the
prime minister after consultation with the leader of the
opposition.

The island is divided into 11 parishes and the city of
Bridgetown.  There is no local government--all divisions are
administered by the central government.

POLITICAL CONDITIONS

The main political parties of Barbados have traditionally been
the Barbados Labor Party (BLP) and the Democratic Labor Party
(DLP).  In 1989, finance minister Dr. Richie Haynes resigned from
the governing party along with three fellow DLP parliamentarians.
They formed a new political party--the National Democratic Party
(NDP).  In the 1991 general elections, Erskine Sandiford and the
DLP retained power, winning 18 of 28 seats in the House of
Assembly.  The NDP failed to win any seats.

The three political parties--BLP, DLP, and NDP--are all moderate
and have no real ideological differences.  As such, electoral
contests and political disputes often have personal overtones.
The major political problems facing Barbados today are promoting
economic growth, reestablishing an healthy balance-of-payments,
encouraging agricultural diversification, attracting small
industry, and promoting tourism.

Principal Government Officials

Head of State--Queen Elizabeth II
Governor General--Dame Nita Barrow
Prime Minister--Lloyd Erskine Sandiford
Ambassador to the US and the OAS--Dr. Rudi Webster
Ambassador to the UN--Besley Maycock

Barbados maintains an embassy in the United States located at
2144 Wyoming Avenue, NW, Washington, DC  20008, tel.
202-939-9200, and a Consulate General in New York at 800 2nd
Avenue, 18th floor, New York, NY 10017, tel. [phone].

ECONOMY

The Barbadian economy is currently experiencing its most
difficult post-independence challenge, with GDP declining 4% in
1991 and 4% in 1992.  Fundamental macroeconomic imbalances began
to emerge in the economy during the 1980s as Barbados' external
competitiveness weakened due to policies that maintained high
real exchange rates, high domestic costs, and a trade regime
biased in favor of import substitution.  As a consequence,
exports declined, the trade deficit soared ($493 million in
1990), and investment contracted.  Sugar continued its slide, and
tourism, long the most dynamic sector of the economy, declined.
The fiscal deficit, adversely affected by the decline in economic
activity, was further aggravated by a rapid escalation of
government expenditure in 1990.  The fiscal deficit combined with
a high external debt load and falling exports to reduce foreign
exchange reserves drastically.  By 1991, the key performance
indicators--fiscal deficit, foreign exchange reserves, and
central bank lending to the government--were at crisis levels,
forcing the government to go to the International Monetary Fund
(IMF) for relief.  The government has undertaken an IMF-sponsored
structural adjustment program intended to reverse the internal
and external imbalances by implementing measures to increase
taxes, cut public expenditures, and curb private demand through
higher interest rates and restrictive credit.

Traditionally, sugar was Barbados' largest industry, but in
recent years tourism and light industry have overtaken it in
importance both as foreign exchange earners and as employers.
Barbados' topographical features and climate are ideally suited
for tourism.  The infrastructure and services that support
tourism (road transportation network, international airport,
communications, health services, and banking services) are among
the best in the Caribbean.  While tourism accounted for 11% of
GDP in 1990, its importance is even greater if its links to other
sectors of the economy are considered.  Nevertheless, tourism has
softened over the last 2 years due to stiffer Caribbean
competition from other islands, and international political and
economic events.  In 1992, there were 385,470 stayover visitors
(116,000 from the US) from the previous year.

Although annual sugar production sometimes exceeded 180,000
metric tons during the postwar period, it had dropped to a record
low of 54,000 metric tons by 1992.  Efforts to diversify
agricultural production have had limited success because sugar
receives high government subsidies and over 80% of the arable
land is controlled by sugar interests.

Manufacturing had become a significant sector of the economy by
the mid-1980s, but has since declined, accounting for about the
same level of GDP (8%) in 1990 as in 1960.

FOREIGN RELATIONS
As a small nation, the primary thrust of Barbados' diplomatic
activity has been within international organizations.  The island
is a member of the Commonwealth and participates in all
Commonwealth activities.  Barbados was admitted to the United
Nations in December 1966.  Wishing to participate fully in the
inter-American system, it joined the Organization of American
States (OAS) in 1967.

On July 4, 1973, Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, and
Jamaica signed a treaty in Trinidad to found Caribbean Community
and Common Market (CARICOM).  In May 1974, most of the remaining
English-speaking Caribbean states joined CARICOM, which now has
13 members.  Barbados is also a member of the Caribbean
Development Bank, established in 1970 with headquarters in
Bridgetown.

Barbados has diplomatic missions headed by resident ambassadors
or high commissioners in Canada, European Economic Community
(Brussels), UN, UK, US, and Venezuela.  It also has resident
Consuls General in Toronto and New York.  Brazil, Canada,
Columbia, Costa Rica, China, UK, US, and Venezuela have
ambassadors or high commissioners resident in Barbados.

US-BARBADIAN RELATIONS
In 1751, George Washington visited Barbados, making what is
believed to have been his only trip abroad.  The US Government
has been represented on Barbados since 1824.  The United States
supports Barbados' efforts to achieve economic growth and social
betterment.  It seeks Barbados' understanding of US policies and
support for US objectives in international organizations.  As a
relatively high-income country, Barbados receives only limited
economic assistance from the United States.  The US supports
economic development programs regionally which benefit Barbados
and encourages participation fully in the Caribbean Basin and
Enterprise for the Americas initiatives.  The CARICOM Nations, of
which Barbados is one, have signed a framework agreement with the
United States to promote trade and investment under the
Enterprise for the Americas Initiative.

Principal US Officials

Ambassador--G. Philip Hughes
Deputy Chief of Mission--Tain P. Tompkins
Political/Economic Counselor--Thomas R. Hutson
Consul General--Thomas E. Cairns
Regional Labor Attaches--Raymond Brown
Public Affairs Officer--Gerald Waters
Director, United States Agency for International
Development--Mosina Jordan

The US Embassy in Barbados is located in the Canadian Imperial
Bank of Commerce Building, Broad Street, Bridgetown (tel.
809-436-4950).

Travel Notes
Visas, duty, and currency:  US citizens do not require passports
and visas, but must present proof of citizenship (usually an
original birth certificate and photo I.D.).

Health:  Medical and sanitation facilities and supplies are good.
Travelers should check latest information.


Published by the United States Department of State -- Bureau of
Public Affairs -- Office of Public Communication -- Washington,
DC -- January 1993 -- Managing Editor:  Peter A. Knecht --
Editor:  Josephine C> Brooks

Department of State Publication 8242
Background Notes Series -- This material is in the public domain
and may be reprinted without permission; citation of this source
is appreciated.

For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, US Government
Printing Office, Washington, DC  20402.