| Economy - overview | The Dominican economy was dependent on agriculture - primarily bananas - in years past, but increasingly has been driven by tourism, as the government seeks to promote Dominica as an "ecotourism" destination. However, Hurricane Maria, which passed through the island in September 2017, destroyed much of the country’s agricultural sector and caused damage to all of the country’s transportation and physical infrastructure. Before Hurricane Maria, the government had attempted to foster an offshore financial industry and planned to sign agreements with the private sector to develop geothermal energy resources. At a time when government finances are fragile, the government’s focus has been to get the country back in shape to service cruise ships. The economy contracted in 2015 and recovered to positive growth in 2016 due to a recovery of agriculture and tourism. Dominica suffers from high debt levels, which increased from 67% of GDP in 2010 to 77% in 2016. Dominica is one of five countries in the East Caribbean that have citizenship by investment programs whereby foreigners can obtain passports for a fee and revenue from this contribute to government budgets. |
| GDP (purchasing power parity) | $855 million (2019 est.) $826 million (2018 est.) $807 million (2017 est.) note: data are in 2017 dollars |
| GDP (official exchange rate) | $557 million (2017 est.) |
| GDP - real growth rate | -4.7% (2017 est.) 2.6% (2016 est.) -3.7% (2015 est.) |
| GDP - per capita (PPP) | $11,917 (2019 est.) $11,537 (2018 est.) $11,304 (2017 est.) note: data are in 2017 dollars |
| Gross national saving | 10.8% of GDP (2017 est.) 20% of GDP (2016 est.) 14.3% of GDP (2015 est.) |
| GDP - composition, by end use | household consumption: 60.6% (2017 est.) government consumption: 26.2% (2017 est.) investment in fixed capital: 21.5% (2017 est.) investment in inventories: 0% (2017 est.) exports of goods and services: 54.4% (2017 est.) imports of goods and services: -62.7% (2017 est.) |
| GDP - composition by sector | agriculture: 22.3% (2017 est.) industry: 12.6% (2017 est.) services: 65.1% (2017 est.) |
| Ease of Doing Business Index scores | Overall score: 60.5 (2020) Starting a Business score: 89.3 (2020) Trading score: 74.3 (2020) Enforcement score: 57.5 (2020) |
| Population below poverty line | 29% (2009 est.) |
| Labor force | 25,000 (2000 est.) |
| Labor force - by occupation | agriculture: 40% industry: 32% services: 28% (2002 est.) |
| Unemployment rate | 23% (2000 est.) |
| Household income or consumption by percentage share | lowest 10%: NA highest 10%: NA |
| Budget | revenues: 227.8 million (2017 est.) expenditures: 260.4 million (2017 est.) |
| Taxes and other revenues | 40.9% (of GDP) (2017 est.) |
| Budget surplus (+) or deficit (-) | -5.9% (of GDP) (2017 est.) |
| Public debt | 82.7% of GDP (2017 est.) 71.7% of GDP (2016 est.) |
| Inflation rate (consumer prices) | 0.6% (2017 est.) 0% (2016 est.) |
| Agriculture - products | bananas, yams, grapefruit, taro, milk, coconuts, oranges, yautia, plantains, sugar cane note: forest and fishery potential not exploited |
| Industries | soap, coconut oil, tourism, copra, furniture, cement blocks, shoes |
| Industrial production growth rate | -13% (2017 est.) |
| Current Account Balance | -$70 million (2017 est.) $5 million (2016 est.) |
| Exports | $28 million (2017 est.) $43.7 million (2016 est.) |
| Exports - commodities | medical instruments, pharmaceuticals, low-voltage protection equipment, tropical fruits, bandages (2019) |
| Exports - partners | Saudi Arabia 47%, Qatar 5% (2019) |
| Imports | $206.6 million (2017 est.) $188.4 million (2016 est.) |
| Imports - commodities | refined petroleum, natural gas, crude petroleum, recreational boats, cars (2019) |
| Imports - partners | United States 57%, Nigeria 11%, China 6%, Italy 5% (2019) |
| Reserves of foreign exchange and gold | $212.3 million (31 December 2017 est.) $221.9 million (31 December 2016 est.) |
| Debt - external | $280.4 million (31 December 2017 est.) $314.2 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 July - 30 June |
Source: CIA World Factbook
This page was last updated on September 18, 2021
