Barbados

The island was uninhabited when first settled by the British in 1627. Slaves worked the sugar plantations established on the island until 1834 when slavery was abolished. The economy remained heavily dependent on sugar, rum, and molasses production through most of the 20th century. The gradual introduction of social and political reforms in the 1940s and 1950s led to complete independence from the UK in 1966. In the 1990s, tourism and manufacturing surpassed the sugar industry in economic importance.

Economical characteristics

 * Currency: Barbadian dollar (ISO code: BBD)
 * Central bank discount rate: 10% (31 December 2008)
 * Commercial banks lending rate: 10.03% (31 December 2008)
 * Stock of money (M1): $1.637 billion (31 December 2008)
 * Quasi money (with M1 makes M2): $3.701 billion (31 December 2008)

Links

 * Barbados on Wikipedia
 * Central bank of Barbados
 * BBC country profile