Economy of Barbados

Economy of Barbados

Central Bank of Barbados
Currency	Barbadian dollar (BBD)
Fiscal year	1 April – 31 March
Trade organisations	WTO
Statistics
GDP	PPP: $7.0001 billion Rank: 158th (2012[update])
GDP growth	0.7% (2012 est.)
GDP per capita	PPP: $25,500 (2012 est.)
GDP by sector	agriculture (3.1%), industry (13.6%), services (83.3%) (2012 est.)
Inflation (CPI)	6.1% (2012 est.)
Population below poverty line	N/A
Labour force	145.000 (2011 est.)
Labour force by occupation	agriculture (10%), industry (15%), services (75%) (1996 est.)
Unemployment	11.9% (2015)
Main industries	tourism, sugar, light manufacturing, component assembly for export
Ease-of-doing-business rank	117th (2017)
External
Exports	$491.1 million (2012[update])
Export goods	manufactures, sugar and molasses, rum, other foods and beverages, chemicals, electrical components
Main export partners	Trinidad and Tobago 21.3%  United States 11.0%  St. Lucia 9.9%  St. Vincent and the Grenadines 6.1%  Antigua and Barbuda 5.0%  St. Kitts and Nevis 4.7%  Jamaica 4.5%  United Kingdom 4.1%  Colombia 4.0% (2012 est.)
Imports	$1.633 billion (2012[update])
Import goods	consumer goods, machinery, foodstuffs, construction materials, chemicals, fuel, electrical components
Main import partners	Trinidad and Tobago 37.9%  United States 25.7%  China 5.4% (2012 est.)
Gross external debt	$4.49 billion (2010[update])
Public finances
Revenues	$1.3 billion 2012[update])
Expenses	$1.5 billion(2012[update])
Economic aid	$9.8 million (recipient; 1995)
Credit rating	BB- (Domestic) BB- (Foreign) BB- (T&C Assessment) (Standard & Poor's)
Main data source: CIA World Fact Book All values, unless otherwise stated, are in US dollars.

Since achieving independence in 1966, the island nation of Barbados has transformed itself from a High-income economy dependent upon "sugar" production, into an upper-middle-income economy based on tourism and the offshore sector. Barbados went into a deep recession in the 1990s after 3 years of steady decline brought on by fundamental macroeconomic imbalances. After a painful re-adjustment process, the economy began to grow again in 1993. Growth rates have averaged between 3%–5% since then. The country's three main economic drivers are: tourism, the international business sector, and foreign direct-investment. These are supported in part by Barbados operating as a service-driven economy and an international business centre.

By the end of 2012 the Barbados economy still exhibited signs of weakness with their main export (12.53% a value of $96.5 million) being liquor closely followed by frozen-fish (8%) and preserved-milk (6.23%) to Nigeria (a total of 41.38% at $319 million) with nearly three-quarters of the imports (61.05% at $3 billion in natural-rubber and cocoa-beans) originating from there. Although it is often quoted that Barbados’ main produce is "sugar" there are only two working sugar factories remaining in the country (in the 19th century there were 10). At the end of 2013 Barbados economy continued to exhibited signs of weakness.

Since the first settlement by the British in 1625, through history the economy of Barbados was primarily dependent on agriculture. It had been recorded that minus the marshes and gully regions, during the 1630s much of the desirable land had been deforested across the entire island. Quickly Barbados was then divided into large estate-plantations and using indentured labour mainly from the British Isles for the cultivation of tobacco and cotton crops were first introduced. The island, facing a large amount of competition from the North American colonies and the neighbouring West Indian islands, switched to the crop of sugar cane. Cultivation of sugar cane was quickly introduced by the exiled Jewish community which immigrated into Barbados from Dutch Brazil during the mid-17th century. The introduction of sugar cane became the single best move for the Barbados economy at the time, the economy boomed and Barbados had become populated with so many windmills that the island had the second highest density of windmills per square mile in the world, second only to the Netherlands. For about the next 100 years Barbados remained the richest of all the European colonies in the Caribbean region due to sugar. The prosperity in the colony of Barbados remained regionally unmatched until sugar cane production caught up in geographically larger countries such as Jamaica and elsewhere. Despite being eclipsed by larger makers of sugar, Barbados continued to produce the crop well into the 20th century and to this day.