page_title: Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
section_title: Economy
hierarchical_section_title: Saint Vincent and the Grenadines / Economy
caption_attribution_description: St. Vincent, Karibik - Kingstown - Looking north from Fort Charlotte
context_page_description: Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, also frequently known simply as Saint Vincent, is an Anglo-Caribbean country of several islands in the Lesser Antilles island arc, in the southeast Windward Islands, which lies in the West Indies at the southern end of the eastern border of the Caribbean Sea where the latter meets the Atlantic Ocean.
  Its 369 km² territory consists of the main island of Saint Vincent and the northern two-thirds of the Grenadines, a chain of 32 smaller islands. Some of the Grenadines are inhabited — Bequia, Mustique, Union Island, Canouan, Palm Island, Mayreau, Young Island — while others are not: Tobago Cays, Petit Saint Vincent, Baliceaux, Bettowia, Quatre, Petite Mustique, Savan and Petit Nevis. Most of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines lies within the Hurricane Alley.
  To the north of Saint Vincent lies Saint Lucia, to the east is Barbados, and Grenada lies to the south. Saint Vincent and the Grenadines is a densely populated country for its size with approximately 110,211 inhabitants.
  Kingstown is the capital and main port.
context_section_description: Agriculture, dominated by banana production, is the most important sector of this lower-middle-income economy. The services sector, based mostly on a growing tourist industry, is also important. The government has been relatively unsuccessful at introducing new industries, and the unemployment rate remains high at 19.8% in the 1991 census to 15% in 2001. The continuing dependence on a single crop represents the biggest obstacle to the islands' development as tropical storms wiped out substantial portions of bananas in many years.
  There is a small manufacturing sector and a small offshore financial sector serving international businesses, and its secrecy laws have caused some international concern. There are increasing demands for international financial services like stock exchange and financial intermediaries financial activities in the country.  In addition, the natives of Bequia are permitted to hunt up to four humpback whales per year under IWC subsistence quotas.
caption: Camden Park, St. Vincent
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