ECONOMY
The economy depends on agriculture, tourism, light industry, and
services. It also depends on France for large subsidies and imports.
Tourism is a key industry, with most tourists from the US; an
increasingly large number of cruise ships visit the islands. The
traditional sugarcane crop is slowly being replaced by other crops,
such as bananas (which now supply about 50% of export earnings),
eggplant, and flowers. Other vegetables and root crops are cultivated
for local consumption, although Guadeloupe is still dependent
on imported food, mainly from France. Light industry features
sugar and rum production. Most manufactured goods and fuel are
imported. Unemployment is especially high among the young. Hurricanes
periodically devastate the economy.
GDP:
purchasing power parity - $3.7 billion (1997 est.)
GDP
- per capita: purchasing power parity - $9,000 (1997
est.)
GDP
- composition by sector:
agriculture: 15%
industry: 17%
services: 68% (1997 est.)
Population
below poverty line: NA%
Household
income or consumption by percentage share:
lowest 10%: NA%
highest 10%: NA%
Inflation
rate (consumer prices): NA%
Labor
force: 125,900 (1997)
Labor
force - by occupation: NA
Unemployment
rate: 27.8% (1998)
Budget:
revenues: $225 million
expenditures: $390 million, including capital expenditures of
$105 million (1996)
Industries: construction, cement, rum, sugar,
tourism
Industrial
production growth rate: NA%
Electricity
- production: 1.155 billion kWh (2001)
Electricity
- production by source:
fossil fuel: 100%
other: 0% (2001)
hydro: 0%
nuclear: 0%
Electricity
- consumption: 1.074 billion kWh (2001)
Electricity
- exports: 0 kWh (2001)
Electricity
- imports: 0 kWh (2001)
Oil
- production: 0 bbl/day (2001 est.)
Oil
- consumption: 13,000 bbl/day (2001 est.)
Oil
- exports: NA (2001)
Oil
- imports: NA (2001)
Agriculture
- products: bananas, sugarcane, tropical fruits and
vegetables; cattle, pigs, goats
Exports:
$140 million f.o.b. (1997)
Exports
- commodities: bananas, sugar, rum
Exports
- partners: France 60%, Martinique 18%, US 4% (1999)
Imports: $1.7 billion c.i.f. (1997)
Imports
- commodities: foodstuffs, fuels, vehicles, clothing
and other consumer goods, construction materials
Imports
- partners: France 63%, Germany 4%, US 3%, Japan 2%,
Netherlands Antilles 2% (1999)
Debt
- external: $NA
Economic
aid - recipient: $NA; note - substantial annual French
subsidies
Currency:
euro (EUR); French franc (FRF)
Currency
code: EUR; FRF
Exchange
rates: euros per US dollar - 1.0626 1.0626 (2002), 1.1175
(2001), 1.0854 (2000), 0.9386 (1999); French francs per US dollar
- 5.8995 (1998)
Fiscal
year: calendar year
