Economy Overview
The Bahamas is a stable, developing nation with an economy heavily dependent on tourism and offshore banking. Tourism alone accounts for more than 60% of GDP and directly or indirectly employs half of the archipelago's labor force. Steady growth in tourism receipts and a boom in construction of new hotels, resorts, and residences had led to solid GDP growth in recent years, but the slowdown in the US economy and the attacks of 11 September 2001 held back growth in these sectors in 2001-03. Financial services constitute the second-most important sector of the Bahamian economy, accounting for about 15% of GDP. However, since December 2000, when the government enacted new regulations on the financial sector, many international businesses have left The Bahamas. Manufacturing and agriculture together contribute approximately a tenth of GDP and show little growth, despite government incentives aimed at those sectors. Overall growth prospects in the short run rest heavily on the fortunes of the tourism sector, which depends on growth in the US, the source of more than 80% of the visitors. In addition to tourism and banking, the government supports the development of a "third pillar," e-commerce.
Agriculture Products
citrus, vegetables; poultry
Industries
tourism, banking, e-commerce, cement, oil refining and transshipment, salt, rum, aragonite, pharmaceuticals, spiral-welded steel pipe
Industrial Production Growth Rate
NA (2002 est.)
Labor Force
156,000 (1999)
Electricity production
1.56 billion kWh (2001)
Electricity Consumption
1.451 billion kWh (2001)
Electricity Exports
0 kWh (2001)
Electricity Imports
0 kWh (2001)
Currency
Bahamian dollar (BSD)
Unemployment Rate
6.9% (2001 est.)
Population Below Poverty Line
NA
Household Income or Consumption by Percentage Share
Lowest 10%: NA
Highest 10%: NA
Budget
Revenues: $918.5 million
Expenditures: $956.5 million, including capital expenditures of $106.7 million (FY99/00)
Commercial Bank Prime Lending Rate
Market Value of Publicly Traded Shares
Reserves of Foreign Exchange and Gold
Debt External
$308.5 million (2002)
Stock of Direct Foreign Investment at Home
Stock of Direct Foreign Investment Abroad
Exchange Rates
Bahamian dollars per US dollar - 1 (2003), 1 (2002), 1 (2001), 1 (2000), 1 (1999)
