Economy of Guernsey

Economy - overview: Financial services - banking, fund management, insurance, etc. - account for about 55% of total income in this tiny Channel Island economy. Tourism, manufacturing, and horticulture, mainly tomatoes and cut flowers, have been declining. Light tax and death duties make Guernsey a popular tax haven. The evolving economic integration of the European Union nations is changing the rules of the game under which Guernsey operates.

GDP: purchasing power parity - $1.15 billion (1997 est.)

GDP - real growth rate: 2.3% (1997 est.)

GDP - per capita: purchasing power parity - $18,100 (1997 est.)

GDP - composition by sector:
agriculture: 4%
industry: 10%
services: 86% (1999 est.)

Population below poverty line: NA%

Household income or consumption by percentage share:
lowest 10%: NA%
highest 10%: NA%

Inflation rate (consumer prices): 4.7% (1997 est.)

Labor force: NA

Unemployment rate: 0.5% (1997 est.)

Budget:
revenues: $300.8 million
expenditures: $298.1 million, including capital expenditures of $NA (1998 est.)

Industries: tourism, banking

Industrial production growth rate: NA%

Electricity - production: NA kWh

Electricity - production by source:
fossil fuel: NA%
hydro: NA%
nuclear: NA%
other: NA%

Electricity - consumption: NA kWh

Electricity - exports: NA kWh

Electricity - imports: NA kWh

Agriculture - products: tomatoes, greenhouse flowers, sweet peppers, eggplant, fruit; Guernsey cattle

Exports: $NA

Exports - commodities: tomatoes, flowers and ferns, sweet peppers, eggplant, other vegetables

Exports - partners: United Kingdom (regarded as internal trade)

Imports: $NA

Imports - commodities: coal, gasoline, oil, machinery and equipment

Imports - partners: United Kingdom (regarded as internal trade)

Debt - external: $NA

Economic aid - recipient: $NA

Currency: 1 Guernsey pound = 100 pence

Exchange rates: Guernsey pounds per US$1 - 0.6092 (January 2000), 0.6180 (1999), 0.6037 (1998), 0.6106 (1997), 0.6403 (1996), 0.6335 (1995); note - the Guernsey pound is at par with the British pound

Fiscal year: calendar year