Economical overview
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines is a small island
nation and the poorest of the states of the eastern
Caribbean. The economy has traditionally been dominated
by agriculture and not least the banana industry, but
nowadays service is the most important sector.
The country belongs to the UN category "small island
nations under development", which is characterized by a
relatively small population, limited resources, exposure
to natural disasters and sensitivity to fluctuations in
world market prices and international economic
conditions. Unemployment is stubbornly high, not least
among young people and women. The EU is the largest
donor, followed by Japan and international development
agencies. Money shipments from vincentia abroad make an
important contribution to the economy.
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Countryaah.com:
Major imports by St. Vincent and The Grenadines, covering a full list of top products imported by the country and trade value for each product category.
The hospitality industry is the most important part
of the service sector, although tourism is relatively
modest compared to other countries in the Caribbean. The
inauguration of a new airport in 2017 raises hopes of
increased tourist influx and thus increased growth.
In the country there is also a financial sector with
several thousand foreign offshore companies that utilize
favorable tax and capital management rules, often
without having any real business in the country. The
offshore sector risks attracting financial crime. In the
early 2000s, Saint Vincent ended up on two international
agencies' blacklists of countries that did not do enough
to prevent money laundering (that is, turning illegally
earned money into legal). After the government tightened
control and closed many banks, the country was removed
from the lists. At the end of the 1990s, the country was
placed on a "gray" list of countries that did not
cooperate sufficiently in the exchange of information on
taxes, but were also removed from there after taking
measures. Saint Vincent managed to escape the EU: s
first black list of tax havens in 2017 by promising to
improve transparency. However, the United States has
overseen the country and sees great risk of money
laundering with links to drug smuggling and the offshore
sector.
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Abbreviationfinder.org: Check this abbreviation website to find three letter ISO codes for all countries in the world, including SVG which represents the country of St. Vincent and The Grenadines.
Agriculture still plays an important role in, among
other things, employment and agricultural commodities
dominate commodity exports.
Banana exports to the UK first and later to other
parts of the EU were central to the economy of the
1950s. The bananas accounted for over half of the
exports of goods in 1990, but the share had fallen to
around one-twentieth 25 years later. Exports then
basically only went to countries in the Caribbean.
The decline in the banana industry was partly due to
adverse weather conditions (see Agriculture and
Fisheries), and increasing international competition.
From the 1990s, the EU was forced to gradually change
its favorable conditions for importing bananas from
ancient colonies in the Caribbean and Africa and the
Pacific, regulated in the Lomé Conventions and from 2000
in the subsequent Cotonou Agreement. This happened after
a protracted trade dispute, the "banana war", between
the EU and the US (and US banana companies) as well as
countries in Latin America. Finally, the EU was forced
to agree to reduce tariffs on Latin American bananas,
despite the risk of hitting hard on the small producers
in the Caribbean, for example. Within the framework of
the Cotonou Agreement, a number of Caribbean states have
also concluded an economic partnership agreement with
the EU, which provides a gradual transition to less
protected markets (see also Foreign Trade).
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and the other member
states of the OECS regional organization (see Foreign
Policy and Defense) have a single currency, the eastern
Caribbean dollar, which has been linked to the US dollar
since the 1970s.
FACTS - FINANCE
GDP per person
US $ 7,378 (2018)
Total GDP
US $ 813 million (2018)
GDP growth
2.6 percent (2018)
Agriculture's share of GDP
6.7 percent (2018)
Manufacturing industry's share of GDP
5.0 percent (2018)
The service sector's share of GDP
62.3 percent (2018)
Inflation
1.4 percent (2019)
Government debt's share of GDP
74.5 percent (2018)
External debt
US $ 337 million (2017)
Currency
eastern Caribbean dollar
Assistance per person
US $ 67 (2017)
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