Barbados
| Country summary | |
|---|---|
|
Capital |
Bridgetown |
|
Borders |
(N/A) |
|
Government type |
parliamentary democracy and a Commonwealth realm |
|
Population |
284,589 (July 2010 est.)[1] |
|
Population growth |
0.383% (2010 est.)[1] |
|
Life expectancy |
73.94 years[1] |
|
Unemployment |
10.7% (2003 est.)[1] |
|
40[2] | |
|
20[3] | |
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.[1]
Economical characteristics
- Currency: Barbadian dollar (ISO code: BBD)
- Central bank discount rate: 10% (31 December 2008)[1]
- Commercial banks lending rate: 10.03% (31 December 2008)[1]
- Stock of money (M1): $1.637 billion (31 December 2008)[1]
- Quasi money (with M1 makes M2): $3.701 billion (31 December 2008)[1]
Statistics
| Statistic / Year | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GDP (million USD)[4] | 2 468 | 2 559 | 2 548 | 2 476 | 2 694 | 2 824 | 3 005 | 3 191 | 3 409 | 3 682 |
| Govt. debt (% of GDP)[5] | 91.625 | |||||||||
| Govt. revenue (% of GDP)[6] | 37.099 | |||||||||
| Govt. expenses (% of GDP)[7] | 40.114 | |||||||||
| Debt to revenue (years) | 2.470 |
References
Note: statistical data was rounded. Different sources may use different methodologies for their estimates. Debt to revenue is calculated by dividing the two variables from their original ('unrounded') values. It represents how long it would a government take to repay its entire debt if it used its whole revenue for this purpose.
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 CIA - The World Factbook. "Barbados", from The World Factbook. Referenced 2010-09-30.
- ↑ Heritage Foundation. "Barbados", Economic Freedom Score. A lower ranking is better; but please be careful when comparing between different countries or years. Referenced 2010-09-30.
- ↑ Transparency International. "Barbados", Corruption Perceptions Index 2009. A lower ranking is better; but please note that the numbers cannot be compared between countries or years due to different methodology. Referenced 2010-09-30.
- ↑ World Bank. "Barbados: GDP", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-09-30.
- ↑ World Bank. "Barbados: government debt", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-09-30.
- ↑ World Bank. "Barbados: government revenue", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-09-30.
- ↑ World Bank. "Barbados: government expenses", from World Bank Data. Referenced 2010-09-30.
Links
- Barbados on Wikipedia
- Central bank of Barbados
- BBC country profile
