tion: Ambassador Sir William DOUGLAS; Chancery
at 2144 Wyoming Avenue NW, Washington DC 20008; telephone (202) 939-9200
through 9202; there is a Barbadian Consulate General in New York and a
Consulate in Los Angeles;

US--Ambassador G. Philip HUGHES; Embassy at Canadian
Imperial Bank of Commerce Building, Broad Street, Bridgetown (mailing
address is P. O. Box 302, Bridgetown or FPO Miami 34054); telephone (809)
436-4950 through 4957

_#_Flag: three equal vertical bands of blue (hoist side), yellow, and
blue with the head of a black trident centered on the gold band; the
trident head represents independence and a break with the past (the
colonial coat of arms contained a complete trident)

_*_Economy
_#_Overview: A per capita income of $6,500 gives Barbados one of
the highest standards of living of all the small island states of the
eastern Caribbean. Historically, the economy was based on the cultivation
of sugarcane and related activities. In recent years, however, the
economy has diversified into manufacturing and tourism. The tourist
industry is now a major employer of the labor force and a primary source
of foreign exchange. An unemployment rate of 18% remains one of the most
serious economic problems facing the country.

_#_GDP: $1.7 billion, per capita $6,500; real growth rate
3.6% (1989 est.)

_#_Inflation rate (consumer prices): 6.2% (1989)

_#_Unemployment: 18% (1990)

_#_Budget: revenues $501 million; expenditures $484 million,
including capital expenditures of $113 million (FY91)

_#_Exports: $165 million (f.o.b., 1990 est.);

commodities--sugar and molasses, chemicals, electrical components,
clothing, rum, machinery and transport equipment;

partners: CARICOM 30%, US 20%, UK 20%

_#_Imports: $701 million (c.i.f., 1990 est.);

commodities--foodstuffs, consumer durables, raw materials,
machinery, crude oil, construction materials, chemicals;

partners--US 35%, CARICOM 13%, UK 12%, Japan 6%, Canada 8%,
Venezuela 4%

_#_External debt: $550 million (June 1990 est.)

_#_Industrial production: growth rate - 1.5% (1989); accounts
for 14 % of GDP

_#_Electricity: 132,000 kW capacity; 494 million kWh produced, 1,880
kWh per capita (1990)

_#_Industries: tourism, sugar, light manufacturing, component assembly
for export

_#_Agriculture: accounts for 10% of GDP; major cash crop is sugarcane;
other crops--vegetables and cotton; not self-sufficient in food

_#_Economi