Economy of Guadeloupe - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The economy of Guadeloupe
Guadeloupe
Guadeloupe is an archipelago located in the Leeward Islands, in the Lesser Antilles, with a land area of 1,628 square kilometres and a population of 400,000. It is the first overseas region of France, consisting of a single overseas department. As with the other overseas departments, Guadeloupe...

depends on agriculture

Agriculture

Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...

, tourism

Tourism

Tourism is travel for recreational, leisure or business purposes. The World Tourism Organization defines tourists as people "traveling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes".Tourism has become a...

, light industry

Light industry

Light industry is usually less capital intensive than heavy industry, and is more consumer-oriented than business-oriented...

, and services. It also depends on France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

for large subsidies and imports.

Tourism is a key industry; an increasingly large number of cruise ships visit the islands. The traditional sugarcane

Sugarcane

Sugarcane refers to any of six to 37 species of tall perennial grasses of the genus Saccharum . Native to the warm temperate to tropical regions of South Asia, they have stout, jointed, fibrous stalks that are rich in sugar, and measure two to six metres tall...

crop is slowly being replaced by other crops, such as banana

Banana

Banana is the common name for herbaceous plants of the genus Musa and for the fruit they produce. Bananas come in a variety of sizes and colors when ripe, including yellow, purple, and red....

s (which now supply about 50% of export earnings), eggplant, and flower

Flower

A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants . The biological function of a flower is to effect reproduction, usually by providing a mechanism for the union of sperm with eggs...

s. Other vegetables and root crops are cultivated for local consumption, although Guadeloupe is still dependent on imported food, mainly from France. Light industry features sugar

Sugar

Sugar is a class of edible crystalline carbohydrates, mainly sucrose, lactose, and fructose, characterized by a sweet flavor.Sucrose in its refined form primarily comes from sugar cane and sugar beet...

and rum

Rum

Rum is a distilled alcoholic beverage made from sugarcane by-products such as molasses, or directly from sugarcane juice, by a process of fermentation and distillation. The distillate, a clear liquid, is then usually aged in oak barrels...

production. Most manufactured goods and fuel are imported. Unemployment is especially high among the young. Hurricanes periodically devastate the economy.

Agriculture

In Guadeloupe, agriculture constituted 6 percent of GDP and employed 15 percent of the work-force in 1997, which equaled approximately 120,000. The main crops are sugarcane & bananas. Large sugar plantations that produce for both export and local consumption purposes continue to dominate. Sugarcane is grown on western and central parts of Grande-Terre due to its flat lands and rainfall of 1500 to 2500 mm. & on northeast section of Basse-Terre. There are rum distilleries to produce rum from sugar. Bananas are grown mainly on the

Animal husbandry

Cattle

Cattle are the most common type of large domesticated ungulates. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae, are the most widespread species of the genus Bos, and are most commonly classified collectively as Bos primigenius...

, goat

Goat

The domestic goat is a subspecies of goat domesticated from the wild goat of southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. The goat is a member of the Bovidae family and is closely related to the sheep as both are in the goat-antelope subfamily Caprinae. There are over three hundred distinct breeds of...

s, pig

Pig

A pig is any of the animals in the genus Sus, within the Suidae family of even-toed ungulates. Pigs include the domestic pig, its ancestor the wild boar, and several other wild relatives...

s & poultry

Poultry

Poultry are domesticated birds kept by humans for the purpose of producing eggs, meat, and/or feathers. These most typically are members of the superorder Galloanserae , especially the order Galliformes and the family Anatidae , commonly known as "waterfowl"...

are raised for local consumption and provided most of the requirements of animal products. The rearing of animals is done both on Grande-Terre & Basse-Terre.

Fishing

Offshore fishing is a traditional source of food, and the main catches. By the end of the 1990s, 11 fishing farms were registered in Guadeloupe and experiments are under way to catch and market fish in order to respond to growing demand. The 1997 catch was 10,518 tons, mainly marine fish with some small amounts of crustaceans and molluscs.

Manufacturing

In 1997, industry in Guadeloupe constituted 9 percent of GDP and provided employment for 17 percent of the labor force. Major industrial activities include sugar refining, rum distilling, food processing, cement and brick manufacture, mineral water bottling, beverage making, chemical making, textile manufacture & electronics assembly. Jarry has an industrial free-port.

Construction

The construction industry employs 12 percent of the workforce in Guadeloupe. Most of the construction sector is dominated by government in the form of public works. Such works provide an enormous boost to the economy and help relieve unemployment. Indeed, the 5,500 public work enterprises in the construction sector comprise 19 percent of all industrial enterprises and engage approximately 10 percent of the entire labor force. Construction has boomed with tourism to construct hotels, apartments and cottages.

Tertiary industries

In 1997, the service sector in Guadeloupe contributed 85 percent of GDP and provided employment for 68 percent of the labor force.

Tourism

Tourism accounted for 7 percent of GDP in Guadeloupe in 2000. Tourism is the major money earner for Guadeloupe. In 2000, the number of tourists to Guadeloupe reached 623,000, a decrease from 693,000 tourists in 1998. A high percentage of tourists are from France

France

. 350 cruise ships visited Guadeloupe in 1998. Pointe-à-Pitre is a cruise ship port. Tourism provides jobs such as hoteliers, waiters, tour guides & taxi drivers.

Retail

There are many shopping centers especially in Pointe-à-Pitre where French perfumes, cosmetics & leather goods are sold along with local handicrafts as souvenirs. There is foreign direct investment such as McDonald's, KFC, and Subway have established operations in Guadeloupe. There are a number of small and medium sized retail outlets. In 2000, three hundred new outlets, mostly in the leisure and supermarket sectors, were created in Guadeloupe alone.

Economic data

GDP:
real exchange rate - US$9.74 billion (in 2006)

GDP - real growth rate:
NA%

GDP - per capita:
real exchange rate - US$21,780 (in 2006)

GDP - composition by sector:

agriculture:
15%

industry:
17%

services:
68% (2002 est.)

Population below poverty line:
NA%

Household income or consumption by percentage share:

lowest 10%:
NA%

highest 10%:
NA%

Labour force:
125,900 (1997)

Labour force - by occupation:
agriculture 15%, industry 20%, services 65% (2002)

Unemployment rate:
27.8% (1998)

Budget:

revenues:
$296,3 million

expenditures:
$296,3 million, including capital expenditures of $112,5 million (1996)

Industries:
construction

Construction

In the fields of architecture and civil engineering, construction is a process that consists of the building or assembling of infrastructure. Far from being a single activity, large scale construction is a feat of human multitasking...

, cement

Cement

In the most general sense of the word, a cement is a binder, a substance that sets and hardens independently, and can bind other materials together. The word "cement" traces to the Romans, who used the term opus caementicium to describe masonry resembling modern concrete that was made from crushed...

, rum

Rum

, sugar

Sugar

, tourism

Tourism

Industrial production growth rate:
NA%

Electricity - production:
1,165 kWh (2003)

Electricity - production by source:

fossil fuel:
100%

hydro:
0%

nuclear:
0%

other:
0% (1998)

Electricity - consumption:
1,084 TWh (2003)

Electricity - exports:
0 kWh (2003)

Electricity - imports:
0 kWh (2003)

Agriculture - products:
banana

Banana

Banana is the common name for herbaceous plants of the genus Musa and for the fruit they produce. Bananas come in a variety of sizes and colors when ripe, including yellow, purple, and red....

s, sugarcane

Sugarcane

, tropical fruit

Fruit

In broad terms, a fruit is a structure of a plant that contains its seeds.The term has different meanings dependent on context. In non-technical usage, such as food preparation, fruit normally means the fleshy seed-associated structures of certain plants that are sweet and edible in the raw state,...

s and vegetable

Vegetable

The noun vegetable usually means an edible plant or part of a plant other than a sweet fruit or seed. This typically means the leaf, stem, or root of a plant....

s; cattle

Cattle

, pig

Pig

A pig is any of the animals in the genus Sus, within the Suidae family of even-toed ungulates. Pigs include the domestic pig, its ancestor the wild boar, and several other wild relatives...

s, goat

Goat

s

Exports:
US$676 million (in 2005)

Exports - commodities:
bananas, sugar, rum

Exports - partners:
France 60%, Martinique 18%, US 4% (1997)

Imports:
US$3.102 billion (in 2005)

Imports - commodities:
foodstuffs, fuels, vehicles, clothing and other consumer goods, construction materials

Imports - partners:
France 63%, Germany 4%, US 3%, Japan 2%, Netherlands Antilles 2% (1997)

Debt - external:
$NA

Economic aid - recipient:
$NA; note - substantial annual French subsidies

Currency:
1 Euro

Euro

The euro is the official currency of the eurozone: 17 of the 27 member states of the European Union. It is also the currency used by the Institutions of the European Union. The eurozone consists of Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg,...

(currency sign

Currency sign

A currency sign is a graphic symbol used as a shorthand for a currency's name, especially in reference to amounts of money. They typically employ the first letter or character of the currency, sometimes with minor changes such as ligatures or overlaid vertical or horizontal bars...

: €
Euro sign
The euro sign is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the Eurozone in the European Union . The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. The international three-letter code for the euro is EUR...

; banking code

ISO 4217

ISO 4217 is a standard published by the International Standards Organization, which delineates currency designators, country codes , and references to minor units in three tables:* Table A.1 – Current currency & funds code list...

: EUR) = 100 cents

Exchange rates:
euros per US$1 – 1, 3002 (February 2005), 0.9867 (January 2000), 0.9386 (1999); French francs (F) per US$1 – 5.65 (January 1999), 5.8995 (1998), 5.8367 (1997), 5.1155 (1996), 4.9915 (1995)

Fiscal year: calendar year

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