ence level, led by the tourist
sector, which employs about 30% of the labor force and provides more
than 70% of hard currency earnings. In recent years the government has
encouraged foreign investment in order to upgrade hotels and other
services. At the same time, the government has moved to reduce the
high dependence on tourism by promoting the development of farming,
fishing, and small-scale manufacturing. The vulnerability of the
tourist sector was illustrated by the sharp drop in 1991-92 due
largely to the Gulf war. Although the industry has rebounded, the
government recognizes the continuing need for upgrading the sector in
the face of stiff international competition.

National product: GDP - purchasing power parity - $430 million (1993
est.)

National product real growth rate: -2% (1993 est.)

National product per capita: $6,000 (1993 est.)

Inflation rate (consumer prices): 3.9% (1993 est.)

Unemployment rate: 9% (1987)

Budget:
revenues: $227.4 million
expenditures: $263 million, including capital expenditures of $54
million (1993 est.)

Exports: $50 million (f.o.b., 1993 est.)
commodities: fish, cinnamon bark, copra, petroleum products
(re-exports)
partners: France 43%, UK 22%, Reunion 11%, (1992)

Imports: $261 million (f.o.b., 1993 est.)
commodities: manufactured goods, food, petroleum products, tobacco,
beverages, machinery and transportation equipment
partners: Singapore 16%, Bahrain 16%, South Africa, 14%, UK 13% (1992)

External debt: $181 million (1993 est.)

Industrial production: growth rate 4% (1992); accounts for 12% of GDP

Electricity:
capacity: 30,000 kW
production: 110 million kWh
consumption per capita: 1,399 kWh (1993)

Industries: tourism, processing of coconut and vanilla, fishing, coir
rope factory, boat building, printing, furniture, beverage

Agriculture: accounts for 5% of GDP, mostly subsistence farming; cash
crops - coconuts, cinnamon, vanilla; other products - sweet potatoes,
cassava, bananas; broiler chickens; large share of food needs
imported; expansion of tuna fishing under way

Economic aid:
recipient: US commitments, including Ex-Im (FY78-89), $26 million;
Western (non-US) countries, ODA and OOF bilateral commitments
(1978-89), $315 million; OPEC bilateral aid (1979-89), $5 million;
Communist countries (1970-89), $60 million

Currency: 1 Seychelles rupee (SRe) = 100 cents

Exchange rates: Seychelles rupees