| Economy - overview | The island nation has been able to attract foreign business and investment, especially in its offshore banking and tourism industries. Tourism is Saint Lucia's main source of jobs and income - accounting for 65% of GDP - and the island's main source of foreign exchange earnings. The manufacturing sector is the most diverse in the Eastern Caribbean area. Crops such as bananas, mangos, and avocados continue to be grown for export, but St. Lucia's once solid banana industry has been devastated by strong competition. Saint Lucia is vulnerable to a variety of external shocks, including volatile tourism receipts, natural disasters, and dependence on foreign oil. Furthermore, high public debt - 77% of GDP in 2012 - and high debt servicing obligations constrain the CHASTANET administration's ability to respond to adverse external shocks. St. Lucia has experienced anemic growth since the onset of the global financial crisis in 2008, largely because of a slowdown in tourism - airlines cut back on their routes to St. Lucia in 2012. Also, St. Lucia introduced a value added tax in 2012 of 15%, becoming the last country in the Eastern Caribbean to do so. In 2013, the government introduced a National Competitiveness and Productivity Council to address St. Lucia's high public wages and lack of productivity. |
| GDP (purchasing power parity) | $2.823 billion (2019 est.) $2.775 billion (2018 est.) $2.704 billion (2017 est.) note: data are in 2017 dollars |
| GDP (official exchange rate) | $1.686 billion (2017 est.) |
| GDP - real growth rate | 3% (2017 est.) 3.4% (2016 est.) -0.9% (2015 est.) |
| GDP - per capita (PPP) | $15,449 (2019 est.) $15,261 (2018 est.) $14,946 (2017 est.) note: data are in 2017 dollars |
| Gross national saving | 19.4% of GDP (2017 est.) 15.5% of GDP (2016 est.) 24.3% of GDP (2015 est.) |
| GDP - composition, by end use | household consumption: 66.1% (2017 est.) government consumption: 11.2% (2017 est.) investment in fixed capital: 16.9% (2017 est.) investment in inventories: 0.1% (2017 est.) exports of goods and services: 62.7% (2017 est.) imports of goods and services: -56.9% (2017 est.) |
| GDP - composition by sector | agriculture: 2.9% (2017 est.) industry: 14.2% (2017 est.) services: 82.8% (2017 est.) |
| Ease of Doing Business Index scores | Overall score: 63.7 (2020) Starting a Business score: 89.4 (2020) Trading score: 73.9 (2020) Enforcement score: 59.7 (2020) |
| Population below poverty line | 25% (2016 est.) |
| Labor force | 79,700 (2012 est.) |
| Labor force - by occupation | agriculture: 21.7% industry: 24.7% services: 53.6% (2002 est.) |
| Unemployment rate | 20% (2003 est.) |
| Unemployment, youth ages 15-24 | total: 37.2% male: 39.6% female: 34.3% (2019 est.) |
| Household income or consumption by percentage share | lowest 10%: NA highest 10%: NA |
| Distribution of family income - Gini index | 51.2 (2016 est.) |
| Budget | revenues: 398.2 million (2017 est.) expenditures: 392.8 million (2017 est.) |
| Taxes and other revenues | 23.6% (of GDP) (2017 est.) |
| Budget surplus (+) or deficit (-) | 0.3% (of GDP) (2017 est.) |
| Public debt | 70.7% of GDP (2017 est.) 69.2% of GDP (2016 est.) |
| Inflation rate (consumer prices) | 0.1% (2017 est.) -3.1% (2016 est.) |
| Agriculture - products | bananas, coconuts, fruit, tropical fruit, plantains, roots/tubers nes, cassava, poultry, vegetables, mangoes/guavas |
| Industries | tourism; clothing, assembly of electronic components, beverages, corrugated cardboard boxes, lime processing, coconut processing |
| Industrial production growth rate | 6% (2017 est.) |
| Current Account Balance | $21 million (2017 est.) -$31 million (2016 est.) |
| Exports | $185.1 million (2017 est.) $188.2 million (2016 est.) |
| Exports - commodities | crude petroleum, beer, jewelry, bananas, refined petroleum, rum (2019) |
| Exports - partners | United States 29%, Uruguay 16%, Barbados 8%, Trinidad and Tobago 5.5%, United Kingdom 6%, Dominica 6%, Guyana 5%, France 5% (2019) |
| Imports | $600 million (2017 est.) $575.9 million (2016 est.) |
| Imports - commodities | crude petroleum, refined petroleum, cars, poultry meats, natural gas (2019) |
| Imports - partners | Colombia 46%, United States 30%, Trinidad and Tobago 5% (2019) |
| Reserves of foreign exchange and gold | $321.8 million (31 December 2017 est.) $320.7 million (31 December 2016 est.) |
| Debt - external | $570.6 million (31 December 2017 est.) $529 million (31 December 2015 est.) |
| Exchange rates | East Caribbean dollars (XCD) per US dollar - 2.7 (2017 est.) 2.7 (2016 est.) 2.7 (2015 est.) 2.7 (2014 est.) 2.7 (2013 est.) |
| Fiscal year | 1 April - 31 March |
Source: CIA World Factbook
This page was last updated on September 18, 2021
