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Poland, Torun
BAHAMAS
COUNTRIES A-Z
Bahamas Economy
Country Name: Commonwealth of The Bahamas
Capital City: Nassau
Population: 305,655
Population Growth: 0.602% (2007)
Currency: Bahamian dollar (BSD)
Languages: English
Area: 13,940 sq km
Inflation Rate: 1.2% (2004)
Unemployment Rate: 10.2% (2005)
Domain extension:
ECONOMIC DETAILS OF BAHAMAS
ECONOMY OVERVIEW
The Bahamas is a stable, developing nation with an economy heavily dependent on tourism and offshore banking. Tourism together with tourism-driven construction and manufacturing accounts for approximately 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. The current government has presided over a period of economic recovery and an upturn in large-scale private sector investments in tourism. 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.
The Bahamas is a stable, developing nation with an economy heavily dependent on tourism and offshore banking. Tourism together with tourism-driven construction and manufacturing accounts for approximately 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. The current government has presided over a period of economic recovery and an upturn in large-scale private sector investments in tourism. 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.
GDP - purchasing power parity:
$6.556 billion (2006 est.)
GDP - real growth rate:
4% (2006 est.)
GDP - per capita:
$21,600 (2006 est.)
GDP - by sector (agriculture):
agriculture: 3%
GDP - by sector (industry):
industry: 7%
GDP - by sector (services):
services: 90% (2001 est.)
Export Partners:
Spain 23.3%, US 20.7%, Poland 14.1%, Germany 7.2%, UK 6%, Guatemala 5.1% (2006)
Import Partners:
US 20.9%, South Korea 17.9%, Brazil 16.8%, Japan 11.1%, Spain 6.1% (2006)
Export Commodities:
mineral products and salt, animal products, rum, chemicals, fruit and vegetables
Import Commodities:
machinery and transport equipment, manufactures, chemicals, mineral fuels; food and live animals
Exports Volume:
$451 million (2005 est.)
Imports Volume:
$2.16 billion (2005 est.)
Labour Force:
176,300 (2004)
Unemployment Rate:
10.2% (2005 est.)
Population below poverty line:
9.3% (2004)
Inflation Rate:
1.2% (2004)
Investment (gross fixed):
Public Debt:
Agriculture Products:
citrus, vegetables; poultry
Industries:
tourism, banking, cement, oil transshipment, salt, rum, aragonite, pharmaceuticals, spiral-welded steel pipe
Industrial Production Growth Rate:
NA%
Electricity - production:
1.795 billion kWh (2004)
Electricity - consumption:
1.669 billion kWh (2004)
Electricity - exports:
0 kWh (2004)
Electricity - imports:
0 kWh (2004)
Oil - production:
0 bbl/day (2004)
Oil - consumption:
27,000 bbl/day (2004 est.)
Oil - exports:
transshipments of 29,000 bbl/day (2003)
Oil - imports:
NA bbl/day
Natural gas - production:
0 cu m (2004 est.)
Natural gas - consumption:
Natural gas - exports:
Natural gas - imports:
Current Account Balance:
Currency Code:
Bahamian dollar (BSD)