Economy - overview Trinidad and Tobago has earned a reputation as an excellent investment site for international businesses. Successful economic reforms were implemented in 1995, and foreign investment and trade are flourishing. Unemployment - a main cause of the country's socio-economic problems - is high, but has decreased to its lowest point in five years. The country enjoys a healthy trade surplus, yet its heavy dependence on oil and petrochemical prices makes its trade balance vulnerable to sudden shifts. Tourism is a major foreign exchange earner, with 260,000 arrivals in 1995, 80% from Europe.

GDP purchasing power parity - $13.2 billion (1996 est.)

GDP - real growth rate 3.1% (1996 est.)

GDP - per capita purchasing power parity - $10,400 (1996 est.)

GDP - composition by sector
agriculture: 2%
industry: 45%
services: 53% (1995 est.)

Inflation rate - consumer price index 3.4% (1996)

Labor force
total: 404,500
by occupation: construction and utilities 13%, manufacturing, mining, and quarrying 14%, agriculture 11%, services 62% (1993 est.)

Unemployment rate 16.1% (December 1996)

Budget
revenues: $1.7 billion
expenditures: $1.6 billion, including capital expenditures of $243 million (1997 est.)

Industries petroleum, chemicals, tourism, food processing, cement, beverage, cotton textiles

Industrial production growth rate 7.5% (1995)

Electricity - capacity 1.15 million kW (1995)

Electricity - production 3.9 billion kWh (1995)

Electricity - consumption per capita 3,068 kWh (1995)

Agriculture - products cocoa, sugarcane, rice, citrus, coffee, vegetables; poultry

Exports
total value: $2.5 billion (f.o.b., 1996)
commodities: petroleum and petroleum products, chemicals, steel products, fertilizer, sugar, cocoa, coffee, citrus, flowers
partners: US 48%, Caricom countries 15%, Latin America 9%, EU 5% (1994)

Imports
total value: $2.1 billion (c.i.f., 1996)
commodities: machinery, transportation equipment, manufactured goods, food, live animals
partners: US 48%, Venezuela 10%, UK 8%, Germany, Canada (1995)

Debt - external $1.9 billion (1996 est.)

Economic aid
recipient: ODA, $10 million (1993)

Currency 1 Trinidad and Tobago dollar (TT$) = 100 cents

Exchange rates Trinidad and Tobago dollars (TT$) per US$1 - 6.2840 (January 1998), 6.2503 (1997), 6.0051 (1996), 5.9478 (1995), 5.9249 (1994), 5.3511 (1993)

Fiscal year calendar year

NOTE: The information regarding Trinidad and Tobago on this page is re-published from the 1998 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Trinidad and Tobago Economy 1998 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Trinidad and Tobago Economy 1998 should be addressed to the CIA.