| Economy - overview: The recent changes in the EU import
preference regime and the increased competition from Latin American
bananas have made economic diversification increasingly important in Saint
Lucia. Improvement in the construction sector and growth of the tourism
industry helped expand GDP in 1998-99. The agriculture sector registered
its fifth year of decline in 1997 primarily because of a severe decline in
banana production. The manufacturing sector is the most diverse in the
Eastern Caribbean, and the government is beginning to develop regulations
for the small offshore financial sector. GDP:
purchasing power parity - $700 million (2000 est.)
GDP - real growth rate: 0.5% (2000 est.)
GDP - per capita: purchasing power parity - $4,500 (2000 est.)
GDP - composition by sector:
agriculture: 10.7%
industry: 32.3%
services: 57% (1996 est.)
Inflation rate (consumer prices): 2.5% (2000 est.)
Labor force: 43,800
Labor force - by occupation: agriculture 43.4%, services 38.9%, industry and
commerce 17.7% (1983 est.)
Unemployment rate: 15% (1996 est.)
Budget:
revenues: $141.2 million
expenditures: $146.7 million, including capital expenditures of $25.1 million
(FY97/98 est.)
Industries: clothing, assembly of electronic components, beverages, corrugated
cardboard boxes, tourism, lime processing, coconut processing
Industrial production growth rate: -8.9% (1997 est.)
Electricity - production: 110 million kWh (1999)
Electricity - production by source:
fossil fuel: 100%
hydro: 0%
nuclear: 0%
other: 0% (1999)
Electricity - consumption: 102.3 million kWh (1999)
Agriculture - products: bananas, coconuts, vegetables, citrus, root crops, cocoa
Exports: $68.3 million (2000 est.)
Exports - commodities: bananas 41%, clothing, cocoa, vegetables, fruits, coconut
oil
Exports - partners: UK 50%, US 24%, Caricom countries 16% (1995)
Imports: $319.4 million (2000 est.)
Imports - commodities: food 23%, manufactured goods 21%, machinery and
transportation equipment 19%, chemicals, fuels
Imports - partners: US 36%, Caricom countries 22%, UK 11%, Japan 5%, Canada 4%
(1995)
Debt - external: $131.6 million (1998)
Economic aid - recipient: $51.8 million (1995)
Currency: 1 East Caribbean dollar (XCD) = 100 cents
SOURCE: The World Factbook |