Manufacturing, which has been in decline since the latter half of the 1980's has been showing some resurgence during the 1990's. Barbados has a well-educated and trainable workforce, and its legal framework is considered to be a model for offshore centres. As allowed under international trade and financial agreements, Barbados maintains ordinary exchange controls to protect its balance of payments. In 1993, the country started recovering from a deep recession. The economic revival, driven by tourism, gathered pace in 1994 and has continued into 1998-99.
External debt is still manageable, and the debt service ratio remains fairly low.
Most of the debt is owned by the public sector. Government has introduced policies to address the question of labour costs and competitiveness. These include negotiating a Prices and Incomes Policy with the Social Partners which comprise the Private Sector, the Government and Trade Unions, and establishing a National Productivity Board to advise on questions of productivity. This remains the main crop, although sugar is no longer the chief foreign exchange earner. Some 8,396 hectares of land are under sugar cane cultivation giving a yield of approximately 59,114 tonnes of sugar.