Economy (Barbados)
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     Overview:
         A per capita income of $6,500 gives Barbados one of the highest standards 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. The economy
         slowed in 1990-91, however, and Bridgetown's declining hard currency
         reserves and inability to finance its deficits have caused it to adopt an
         austere economic reform program.
     GDP:
         purchasing power equivalent - $1.7 billion, per capita $6,500; real growth
         rate--3.1% (1990)
     Inflation rate (consumer prices):
         3.4% (1990)
     Unemployment rate:
         18% (1991)
     Budget:
         revenues $514 million; expenditures $615 million (FY91-92)
     Exports:
         $210.6 million (f.o.b., 1990)
       commodities:
         sugar and molasses, chemicals, electrical components, clothing, rum,
         machinery and transport equipment
       partners:
         CARICOM 30%, US 20%, UK 20%
     Imports:
         $704 million (c.i.f., 1990)
       commodities:
         foodstuffs, consumer durables, raw materials, machinery, crude oil,
         construction materials, chemicals
       partners:
         US 35%, CARICOM 13%, UK 12%, Japan 6%, Canada 8%, Venezuela 4%
     External debt:
         $539.9 million (1990)
     Industrial production:
         growth rate--2.7% (1990); accounts for 14% of GDP
     Electricity:
         152,100 kW capacity; 539 million kWh produced, 2,117 kWh per capita (1991)
     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
     Economic aid:
         US commitments, including Ex-Im (FY70-89), $15 million; Western (non-US)
         countries, ODA and OOF bilateral commitments (1970-89), $171 million
     Currency:
         Barbadian dollars (plural - dollars); 1 Barbadian dollar (Bds$) = 100 cents
     Exchange rates:
         Barbadian dollars (Bds$) per US$1 - 2.0113 (fixed rate)
     Fiscal year:
         1 April - 31 March