ECONOMY
Economy
- overview:
The economy depends on US military spending, tourism, and the
export of fish and handicrafts. Total US grants, wage payments,
and procurement outlays amounted to $1 billion in 1998. Over the
past 20 years, the tourist industry has grown rapidly, creating
a construction boom for new hotels and the expansion of older
ones. More than 1 million tourists visit Guam each year. The industry
had recently suffered setbacks because of the continuing Japanese
slowdown; the Japanese normally make up almost 90% of the tourists.
Most food and industrial goods are imported. Guam faces the problem
of building up the civilian economic sector to offset the impact
of military downsizing.
GDP:
purchasing power parity - $3.2 billion (2000 est.)
GDP - real growth rate:
NA
GDP - per capita:
purchasing power parity - $21,000 (2000 est.)
GDP - composition by sector:
agriculture: 7%
industry: 15%
services: 78% (2002 est.)
Population below poverty line:
23% (2001 est.)
Household income or consumption by percentage share:
lowest 10%: NA
highest 10%: NA
Inflation rate (consumer prices):
0% (1999 est.)
Labor force:
60,000 (2000 est.)
Labor force - by occupation:
private 74% (industry 10%, trade 24%, other services 40%), federal
and territorial government 26% (2000 est.)
Unemployment rate:
15% (2000 est.)
Budget:
revenues: $340 million
expenditures: $445 million, including capital expenditures of
NA (2000 est.)
Agriculture - products:
fruits, copra, vegetables; eggs, pork, poultry, beef
Industries:
US military, tourism, construction, transshipment services, concrete
products, printing and publishing, food processing, textiles
Industrial production growth rate:
NA
Electricity - production:
830 million kWh (2001)
Electricity - consumption:
771.9 million kWh (2001)
Electricity - exports:
0 kWh (2001)
Electricity - imports:
0 kWh (2001)
Oil - production:
0 bbl/day (2001 est.)
Oil - consumption:
20,000 bbl/day (2001 est.)
Oil - exports:
NA (2001)
Oil - imports:
NA (2001)
Exports:
$38 million f.o.b. (2002 est.)
Exports - commodities:
mostly transshipments of refined petroleum products; construction
materials, fish, food and beverage products
Exports - partners:
Japan 70.1%, South Korea 17.9%, Singapore 6% (2003)
Imports:
$462 million f.o.b. (2002 est.)
Imports - commodities:
petroleum and petroleum products, food, manufactured goods
Imports - partners:
Singapore 35.8%, Japan 22.2%, South Korea 17.5%, Hong Kong 11.4%
(2003)
Debt - external:
NA (2003 est.)
Economic aid - recipient:
Guam receives large transfer payments from the US Federal Treasury
($143 million in 1997) into which Guamanians pay no income or
excise taxes; under the provisions of a special law of Congress,
the Guam Treasury, rather than the US Treasury, receives federal
income taxes paid by military and civilian Federal employees stationed
in Guam (2001 est.)
Currency:
US dollar (USD)
Currency code:
USD
Exchange rates:
the US dollar is used
Fiscal year:
1 October - 30 September
