(overseas department of France)

Caribbean, island in the Caribbean Sea, north of Trinidad and Tobago

Central America and the Caribbean

1,100 sq km

1,060 sq km

slightly more than six times the size of Washington, DC

0 km

290 km

200 nm

12 nm

none

tropical; moderated by trade winds; rainy season (June to October)

mountainous with indented coastline; dormant volcano

coastal scenery and beaches, cultivable land

10%

8%

30%

26%

26%

60 sq km (1989 est.)

NA

hurricanes, flooding, and volcanic activity (an average of one major natural disaster every five years)

No information in file.

Not Applicable.

• Overview:
  

The economy is based on sugarcane, bananas, tourism, and light industry. Agriculture accounts for about 10% of GDP and the small industrial sector for 10%. 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. Banana workers launched protests late in 1992 because of falling banana prices and fears of greater competition in the European market from other producers.

GDP - purchasing power parity - $3.9 billion (1993 est.)

NA%

$10,000 (1993 est.)

3.9% (1990)

32.1% (1990)

$610 million

$1.3 billion, including capital expenditures of $NA (1991)

$247 million (f.o.b., 1992)

refined petroleum products, bananas, rum, pineapples

France 57%, Guadeloupe 31%, French Guiana (1991)

$1.75 billion (c.i.f., 1992)

petroleum products, crude oil, foodstuffs, construction materials, vehicles, clothing and other consumer goods

France 62%, UK, Italy, Germany, Japan, US (1991)

$NA

growth rate NA%

113,100 kW

700 million kWh

1,677 kWh (1993)

construction, rum, cement, oil refining, sugar, tourism

including fishing and forestry, accounts for about 10% of GDP; principal crops - pineapples, avocados, bananas, flowers, vegetables, sugarcane for rum; dependent on imported food, particularly meat and vegetables

transshipment point for cocaine and marijuana bound for the US and Europe

Western (non-US) countries, ODA and OOF bilateral commitments (1970-89), $10.1 billion

1 French franc (F) = 100 centimes

French francs (F) per US$1 - 5.2943 (January 1995), 5.5520 (1994), 5.6632 (1993), 5.2938 (1992), 5.6421 (1991), 5.4453 (1990)