Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Economic Development

Economy: Belong to low and middle income countries. Agriculture is the foundation of the economy, there are a small number of small-scale agro-processing and manufacturing industries. Offshore finance and tourism plays an important role. In 2007, GDP was $ 559 million.

GDP (2007): $ 559 million.

GNP per capita (2007): $ 5,229.

GDP growth rate (2007): 6.7%.

Currency Name: East Caribbean dollar. EC $ 1 = 100 cents.

Fixed exchange rate: US $ 1 = EC $ 2.7.

Inflation rate (2007): 7.9%.

The unemployment rate (2005): 22%.

Industry: a small amount of processing of agricultural products and clothing, leather, oil and soap and other small industries. The slow development of small-scale manufacturing and the main products are cement, flour and furniture. In 1999, manufacturing revenue accounted for 6.5% of GDP.

Agriculture: Agriculture is the main pillar of the economy, accounting for 10.4% of GDP (1999). Arable land accounts for more than 1/3 of the total land area. The main planting bananas, arrowroot, sweet potatoes, sugar cane, coconut and so on. St. Vincent is the world's largest producer of arrowroot. Banana is major foreign exchange earning crop in St. Vincent. In 2002, banana exports 10,300 tons.

Tourism: tourism has focused on high-quality beaches in Grenadines. In 1992, Bequia and Union Island has two airports and put into use, and promote the development of tourism, respectively. In 2000, overnight visitors reached 72,894 passengers, an increase of 6.7%; cruise tourists reached 86,247 passengers, an increase of 80.6%.