purchasing power parity - $2.5 billion (1995 est.)
GDP real growth rate: 2% (1995 est.)
GDP per capita: $9,800 (1995 est.)
GDP composition by sector: agriculture: 6.4% industry: 39.3% services: 54.3% (1994)
Inflation rate (consumer prices): 1.7% (1995 est.)
Labor force: 126,000 (1993) by occupation: services and government 41%, commerce 15%, manufacturing and construction 18%, transportation, storage, communications, and financial institutions 8%, agriculture 6%, utilities 2% (1992 est.)
Unemployment rate: 19.9% (September 1995)
Budget:
revenues: $550 million
expenditures: $710 million, including capital expenditures of $86
million (FY95/96 est.)
Industries: tourism, sugar, light manufacturing, component
assembly for export
Industrial production growth rate: 5% (1995 est.)
Electricity: capacity: 152,100 kW production: 510 million kWh consumption per capita: 1,841 kWh (1993)
Agriculture: sugarcane, vegetables, cotton
Illicit drugs: one of many Caribbean transshipment points for narcotics bound for the US and Europe
Exports: $158.6 million (f.o.b., 1995 est.)
commodities: sugar and molasses, rum, other foods and beverages,
chemicals, electrical components, clothing
partners: US 13%, UK 10%, Trinidad and Tobago 9%, Windward Islands 8%
Imports: $693 million (c.i.f., 1995 est.)
commodities: consumer goods, machinery, foodstuffs, construction
materials, chemicals, fuel, electrical components
partners: US 36%, UK 11%, Trinidad and Tobago 11%, Japan 3%
External debt: $408 million (1995 est.)
Economic aid: $NA
Currency: 1 Barbadian dollar (Bds$) = 100 cents
Exchange rates: Barbadian dollars (Bds$) per US$1 - 2.0113 (fixed rate)
Fiscal year: 1 April - 31 March
Transportation———————
Railways: 0 km
Highways: total: 1,550 km paved: 1,550 km
Ports: Bridgetown
Merchant marine:
total: 34 ships (1,000 GRT or over) totaling 183,937 GRT/271,707 DWT
ships by type: bulk 6, cargo 21, combination bulk 3, oil tanker 3,
roll-on/roll-off cargo 1 (1995 est.)
Airports: total: 1 with paved runways over 3 047 m: 1 (1995 est.)
Communications———————
Telephones: 87,343 (1991 est.)
Telephone system:
domestic: island wide automatic telephone system
international: satellite earth station - 1 Intelsat (Atlantic
Ocean); tropospheric scatter to Trinidad and Saint Lucia
Radio broadcast stations: AM 3, FM 2, shortwave 0
Radios: NA
Television broadcast stations: 2 (1 pay)
Televisions: 69,350 (1993 est.)
Defense———
Branches: Royal Barbados Defense Force (includes Ground Forces and
Coast Guard), Royal Barbados Police Force
Manpower availability: males age 15–49: 71,667 males fit for military service: 49,726 (1996 est.)
Defense expenditures: $NA, NA% of GDP
======================================================================
@Bassas da India———————
(possession of France)
Map—
Location: 21 30 S, 39 50 E—Southern Africa, islands in the southern Mozambique Channel, about one-half of the way from Madagascar to Mozambique
Flag——
Description: the flag of France is used
Geography————
Location: Southern Africa, islands in the southern Mozambique
Channel, about one-half of the way from Madagascar to Mozambique
Geographic coordinates: 21 30 S, 39 50 E
Map references: Africa
Area:
total area: 0.2 sq km
land area: 0.2 sq km
comparative area: about one-third the size of The Mall in
Washington, DC
Land boundaries: 0 km
Coastline: 35.2 km
Maritime claims: exclusive economic zone: 200 nm territorial sea: 12 nm
International disputes: claimed by Madagascar
Climate: tropical
Terrain: a volcanic rock 2.4 meters high lowest point: Indian Ocean 0 m highest point: unnamed location 3 m
Natural resources: none
Land use:
arable land: 0%
permanent crops: 0%
meadows and pastures: 0%
forest and woodland: 0%
other: 100% (all rock)
Irrigated land: 0 sq km
Environment:
current issues: NA
natural hazards:
