3370 Nassau Place, Washington, DC
20521-3370
telephone: [1] (242) 322-1181, 328-2206 (after hours)
FAX: [1] (242) 356-0222

Flag description:
three equal horizontal bands of aquamarine (top), gold, and
aquamarine, with a black equilateral triangle based on the hoist side

Economy Bahamas, The

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.

GDP (purchasing power parity):
$6.476 billion (2006 est.)

GDP (official exchange rate):
$6.159 billion (2006 est.)

GDP - real growth rate:
4% (2006 est.)

GDP - per capita (PPP):
$21,300 (2006 est.)

GDP - composition by sector:
agriculture: 3%
industry: 7%
services: 90% (2001 est.)

Labor force:
176,300 (2004)

Labor force - by occupation:
agriculture 5%, industry 5%, tourism 50%, other services 5% (2005
est.)

Unemployment rate:
10.2% (2005 est.)

Population below poverty line:
9.3% (2004)

Household income or consumption by percentage share:
lowest 10%: NA%
highest 10%: 27%

Inflation rate (consumer prices):
1.2% (2004)

Budget:
revenues: $1.03 billion
expenditures: $1.03 billion; including capital expenditures of $