Economy of Greenland

Economy of Greenland

The Bank of Greenland headquarters in Nuuk
Currency	1 Danish krone (DKK) = 100 øre
Statistics
GDP	$2.16 billion (2011 est.)
GDP rank	166th (nominal) / 176th (PPP)
GDP growth	3% (2011 est.)
GDP per capita	$37,400 (2008 est.) (2008 est.)
Population below poverty line	9.2% (2007 est.)
Labour force	40,156 (Jan. 2012)
Labour force by occupation	agriculture: 4% (2009 est.) industry: 29% (2009 est.) services: 67% (2009 est.)
Unemployment	4.2% (2010 est.), 2,794 persons affected/month on average
Main industries	fish processing (mainly shrimp and Greenland halibut); Oil, gold, niobium, tantalite, uranium, iron, and diamond mining; handicrafts, hides, skins, small shipyards
External
Exports	$381 million (2010 est.)
Export goods	fish and fish products 89%, metals 10%, other 1% (2010 est.)
Main export partners	Denmark 60.2%  Japan 14.6%  China 7.9% (2012 est.)
Imports	$806 million (2010)
Import goods	machinery and transport equipment, manufactured goods, food, petroleum products
Main import partners	Denmark 65.3%  Sweden 17.4%  Netherlands 5.4% (2012 est.)
Public finances
Public debt	$36.4 million (2010)
Revenues	$1.099 billion (2010)
Expenses	$1.099 billion (2010)
Economic aid	$650 million subsidy from Denmark (2012)
Main data source: CIA World Fact Book All values, unless otherwise stated, are in US dollars.

The economy of Greenland can be characterized as small, mixed and vulnerable.Greenland's economy consists of a big public sector and comprehensive foreign trade, which has resulted in an economy with periods of strong growth, considerable inflation, unemployment problems and extreme dependence on capital inflow from Denmark and use of outside, mainly Danish, skilled labor.

GDP per capita is similar to the average European economies but the economy is critically dependent upon substantial support from the Danish government, which supplies about half the revenues of the home rule government who in turn employs 10,307 Greenlanders out 25,620 currently in employment (2015). Unemployment nonetheless remains high, with the rest of the economy dependent upon demand for exports of shrimp and fish.

Except for an abortive royal colony established under Major Claus Paarss between 1728 and 1730, colonial Greenland was administered by companies under royal charter until 1908. Hans Egede's Hope Colony was organized under the auspices of the Bergen Greenland Company prior to its bankruptcy in 1727; it was succeeded by the merchant Jacob Severin (1733–1749), the General Trade Company (Det almindelige Handelskompagni; 1749–1774), and finally the Royal Greenland Trading Department (KGH; 1776–1908).

Early hopes of mineral or agricultural wealth were dashed, and open trade proved a failure owing to other nations' better quality, lower priced goods and hostility. Kale, lettuce, and other herbs were successfully introduced, but repeated attempts to cultivate wheat or clover failed throughout Greenland, limiting the ability to raise European livestock. After government-funded whaling failed, the KGH eventually settled on maintaining the native Greenlanders in their traditional pursuits of hunting and whaling and enforced a monopoly on trade between them and Europe. Repeated attempts to open trade were opposed on both commercial and humanitarian grounds, although minor reforms in the 1850s and 60s lowered the prices charged to the natives for "luxuries" like sugar and coffee; transferred more of the KGH's profits to local communities; and granted the important Ivigtut cryolite concession to a separate company.