 |
The Netherlands Antilles was an autonomous Caribbean country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, which was formally dissolved in 2010.
| |
The Netherlands Antilles was an autonomous Caribbean country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, which was formally dissolved in 2010.
Tourism, petroleum transshipment, and offshore finance were the mainstays of the economy, which was closely tied to the outside world. The islands enjoyed a high per capita income and a well-developed infrastructure as compared with other countries in the region at the time of the dissolution. Almost all consumer and capital goods were imported, with Venezuela, the United States, and Mexico being the major suppliers. Poor soils and inadequate water supplies hampered the development of agriculture.
Gross Domestic product- $3.81 billion GDP: purchasing power parity - $3 600 million (3,6 G$) (2007 est.)
GDP - real growth rate: 4,0% (2007 est.)
GDP - per capita: purchasing power parity - $19 000 (2007 est.)
GDP - composition by sector:
agriculture: 1%
industry: 15%
services: 84% (2007 est.)
Population below poverty line: NA%
Household income or consumption by percentage share:
lowest 10%: ± 1,5%
highest 10%: ± 31%
Inflation rate (consumer prices): 3,0% (2007)
Labour force: 83 600 (2005)
Labour force - by occupation: agriculture 1%, industry 20%, services 79% (2007 est.)
Unemployment rate: 9% (2007 est.)
Budget:
revenues: $757,9 million
expenditures: $949,5 million, including capital expenditures of $NA (2004 est.)
Industries: tourism (Curaçao, Sint Maarten, and Bonaire), petroleum refining (Curaçao), petroleum transhipment facilities (Curaçao and Bonaire), light manufacturing (Curaçao)
Industrial production growth rate: NA%
Electricity - production: 1 005 GWh (2004)
Electricity - production by source:
fossil fuel: 100%
hydro: 0%
nuclear: 0%
other: 0% (1998)
Electricity - consumption: 934,7 GWh (2004)
Electricity - exports: 0 kWh (2004)
Electricity - imports: 0 kWh (2004)
Agriculture - products: aloes, sorghum, peanuts, vegetables, tropical fruit
Exports: $2.076 million (f.o.b., 2004)
Exports - commodities: petroleum products
Exports - partners: US 32%, Panama 10.1%, Guatemala 7,9%, Haiti 6,4%, The Bahamas 5,1% (2005)
Imports: $4.383 billion (c.i.f., 2004)
Imports - commodities: crude petroleum, food, manufactures
Imports - partners: Venezuela 50%, US 22,2%, Italy 5.2%, Netherlands 5% (2005)
Its external debt was $2 680 million (2004). The IMF provided $61 million in 2000, and the Netherlands continued its support with $40 million (2004)
Its currency was 1 Netherlands Antillean guilder, gulden, or florin (NAf.) = 100 cents Its exchange rate was Netherlands Antillean guilders, gulden, or florins (NAf.) per US$1 – 1.790 (fixed rate since 1989).
Fiscal year: calendar year
The economy of American Samoa is a traditional Polynesian economy in which more than 90% of the land is communally owned. Economic activity is strongly linked to the United States, with which American Samoa conducts the great bulk of its foreign trade. Tuna fishing and processing plants are the backbone of the private sector, with canned tuna being the primary export. Transfers from the U.S. federal government add substantially to American Samoa's economic well-being. Attempts by the government to develop a larger and broader economy are restrained by Samoa's remote location, its limited transportation, and its devastating hurricanes.
The economy of Chad suffers from the landlocked country's geographic remoteness, drought, lack of infrastructure, and political turmoil. About 85% of the population depends on agriculture, including the herding of livestock. Of Africa's Francophone countries, Chad benefited least from the 50% devaluation of their currencies in January 1994. Financial aid from the World Bank, the African Development Bank, and other sources is directed largely at the improvement of agriculture, especially livestock production. Because of lack of financing, the development of oil fields near Doba, originally due to finish in 2000, was delayed until 2003. It was finally developed and is now operated by ExxonMobil. In terms of gross domestic product, Chad ranks 147rd globally with $11.051 billion dollars as of 2018.
The economy of Grenada is a largely tourism-based, small and open economy. Over the past two decades, the main thrust of Grenada's economy has shifted from agriculture to services, with tourism serving as the leading foreign currency earning sector. The country's principal export crops are the spices nutmeg and mace. Other crops for export include cocoa, citrus fruits, bananas, cloves, and cinnamon. Manufacturing industries in Grenada operate mostly on a small scale, including production of beverages and other foodstuffs, textiles, and the assembly of electronic components for export.
The economy of Martinique is mostly based in the services sector. Agriculture accounts for about 6% of Martinique's GDP and the small industrial sector for 11%. Sugar production has declined, with most of the sugarcane now used for the production of rum. Banana exports are increasing, going mostly to France. The bulk of meat, vegetable, and grain requirements must be imported, contributing to a chronic trade deficit that requires large annual transfers of aid from France. Tourism has become more important than agricultural exports as a source of foreign exchange. The majority of the work force is employed in the service sector and in administration.
The economy of the Republic of the Congo is a mixture of subsistence hunting and agriculture, an industrial sector based largely on petroleum extraction and support services. Government spending is characterized by budget problems and overstaffing. Petroleum has supplanted forestry as the mainstay of the economy, providing a major share of government revenues and exports. Nowadays the Republic of the Congo is increasingly converting natural gas to electricity rather than burning it, greatly improving energy prospects.
Once a single-crop agricultural economy, Saint Lucia has shifted to a tourism and banking serviced-based economy. Tourism, the island's biggest industry and main source of jobs, income and foreign exchange, accounts for 65% of its GDP. Agriculture, which was once the biggest industry, now contributes to less than 3% of GDP, but still accounts for 20% of jobs. The banana industry is now on a decline due to strong competition from low-cost Latin American producers and reduced European trade preferences, but the government has helped revitalize the industry, with 13,734 tonnes exported in 2018. Agricultural crops grown for export are bananas, mangoes, and avocados. The island is considered to have the most diverse and well-developed manufacturing industry in the eastern Caribbean.
The economy of Samoa is dependent on agricultural exports, development aid and private financing from overseas. The country is vulnerable to devastating storms. Agriculture employs two-thirds of the labor force, and furnishes 9% of exports, featuring coconut cream, coconut oil and copra. Outside a large automotive wire harness factory, the manufacturing sector mainly processes agricultural products. Tourism is an expanding sector; more than 70,000 tourists visited the islands in 1996 and 120,000 in 2014. The Samoan Government has called for deregulation of the financial sector, encouragement of investment, and continued fiscal discipline. Observers point to the flexibility of the labor market as a basic strength factor for future economic advances.
The economy of Sierra Leone is $4.082 billion by gross domestic product as of 2018. Since the end of the Sierra Leone Civil War in 2002, the economy is gradually recovering with a gross domestic product growth rate between 4 and 7%. In 2008 it in PPP ranked between 147th by World Bank, and 153rd by CIA, largest in the world.
Vanuatu's economy is primarily agricultural; 80% of the population is engaged in agricultural activities that range from subsistence farming to smallholder farming of coconuts and other cash crops.
The government of the Marshall Islands is the largest employer, employing 30.6% of the work force, down by 3.4% since 1988. GDP is derived mainly from payments made by the United States under the terms of the amended Compact of Free Association. Direct U.S. aid accounted for 60% of the Marshall Islands' $90 million budget. The economy combines a small subsistence sector and a modern urban sector.
A per capita GDP of $3,200 ranks Solomon Islands as a lesser developed nation. Over 75% of its labour force is engaged in subsistence farming and fishing.
The economy of Saint Kitts and Nevis has traditionally depended on the growing and processing of sugar cane; decreasing world prices have hurt the industry in recent years. Tourism, export-oriented manufacturing, and offshore banking activity have assumed larger roles in Saint Kitts and Nevis. Most food is imported. The government has undertaken a program designed to revitalize the faltering sugar sector. It is also working to improve revenue collection in order to better fund social programs. In 1997, some leaders in Nevis were urging separation from Saint Kitts on the basis that Nevis was paying far more in taxes than it was receiving in government services, but the vote on cessation failed in August 1998. In late September 1998, Hurricane Georges caused approximately $445 million in damages and limited GDP growth for the year.
The economy of Dominica is reliant upon agriculture, particularly bananas, with the financial services industry and passport sales becoming increasingly the island's largest source of income. Banana production employs, directly or indirectly, upwards of one-third of the work force. This sector is highly vulnerable to weather conditions and to external events affecting commodity prices. The value of banana exports fell to less than 25% of merchandise trade earnings in 1998 compared to about 44% in 1994.
The economy of Niue is heavily dependent upon aid from New Zealand. Government expenditures regularly exceed revenues, and grants from New Zealand make up the shortfall and are used to pay wages to public employees. Niue has cut government expenditures by reducing the public service by almost half.
Guilder is the English translation of the Dutch and German gulden, originally shortened from Middle High German guldin pfenninc "gold penny". This was the term that became current in the southern and western parts of the Holy Roman Empire for the Fiorino d'oro. Hence, the name has often been interchangeable with florin.
The economy of the Gambia is heavily reliant on agriculture. The Gambia has no significant mineral or other natural resources, and has a limited agricultural base. About 75% of the population depends on crops and livestock for its livelihood. Small-scale manufacturing activity features the processing of peanuts, fish, and animal hides.
The Netherlands Antillean guilder is the currency of Curaçao and Sint Maarten, which until 2010 formed the Netherlands Antilles along with Bonaire, Saba, and Sint Eustatius. It is subdivided into 100 cents. On 1 January 2011, in the islands of Bonaire, Saba and Sint Eustatius, the guilder was replaced by the United States dollar. In Curaçao and Sint Maarten, the Netherlands Antillean guilder was proposed to be replaced by a new currency, the Caribbean guilder, but this was stalled indefinitely by negotiations over the establishment of a separate central bank for Curaçao. In November 2020, the Central Bank announced the introduction of the replacement guilder, which was planned to be implemented in the first half of 2021; however, implementation was delayed several times.
The economy of the Northern Mariana Islands benefits substantially from financial assistance from the United States and tourism. The rate of funding has declined as locally generated government revenues have grown. An agreement for the years 1986 to 1992 entitled the islands to $228 million for capital development, government operations, and special programs. Since 1992, funding has been extended one year at a time. The Commonwealth received funding of $11 million for infrastructure, for FY96/97 through FY02/03, with an equal local match.
The economy of Guam depends mainly on US military spending and on tourist revenue. Over the past 20 years, the tourist industry grew rapidly, creating a construction boom for new hotels, golf courses and other tourist amenities. More than 1.1 million tourists visit Guam each year including about 1,000,000 from Japan and 150,000 from Korea. Setbacks in the 1990s include numerous super-typhoons, a M7.8 earthquake, and a Korean airline crash.
The Caribbean guilder is a proposed new currency of Curaçao and Sint Maarten, the Caribbean islands which became "landen" within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, following the dissolution of the Netherlands Antilles on 10 October 2010. The Caribbean guilder would replace the Antillean guilder at par and be pegged to the U.S. dollar. In November 2020, it was announced that the Caribbean guilder would come into circulation the following year, but it was delayed several times.
