Economy - overview The Dominican economy experienced dramatic growth over the last decade, even though the economy was hit hard by Hurricane Georges in 1998. Although the country has long been viewed primarily as an exporter of sugar, coffee, and tobacco, in recent years the service sector has overtaken agriculture as the economy's largest employer, due to growth in tourism and free trade zones. The country suffers from marked income inequality; the poorest half of the population receives less than one-fifth of GNP, while the richest 10% enjoy 40% of national income. A US $500 million foreign bond issue in September 2001 will contribute to increased public investment spending.

GDP purchasing power parity - $50 billion (2001 est.)

GDP - real growth rate 1.5% (2001 est.)

GDP - per capita purchasing power parity - $5,800 (2001 est.)

GDP - composition by sector
agriculture: 11.1%
industry: 34.1%
services: 54.8% (2000)

Population below poverty line 25% (1999 est.)

Household income or consumption by percentage share
lowest 10%: 1.6%
highest 10%: 39.6% (1989)

Distribution of family income - Gini index 47.4 (1998)

Inflation rate (consumer prices) 5% (2001 est.)

Labor force 2.3 million - 2.6 million

Labor force - by occupation services and government 58.7%, industry 24.3%, agriculture 17% (1998 est.)

Unemployment rate 15% (2001 est.)

Budget
revenues: $2.9 billion
expenditures: $3.2 billion, including capital expenditures of $1.1 billion (2001 est.)

Industries tourism, sugar processing, ferronickel and gold mining, textiles, cement, tobacco

Industrial production growth rate 2% (2001 est.)

Electricity - production 9.475 billion kWh (2000)

Electricity - production by source
fossil fuel: 87.21%
hydro: 12.53%
other: 0.26% (2000)
nuclear: 0%

Electricity - consumption 8,812.029 million kWh (2000)

Electricity - exports 0 kWh (2000)

Electricity - imports 0 kWh (2000)

Agriculture - products sugarcane, coffee, cotton, cocoa, tobacco, rice, beans, potatoes, corn, bananas; cattle, pigs, dairy products, beef, eggs

Exports $5.5 billion (f.o.b., 2001 est.)

Exports - commodities ferronickel, sugar, gold, silver, coffee, cocoa, tobacco, meats, consumer goods

Exports - partners US 87.3%, Netherlands 1.1%, Canada 0.7%, France 0.7% (2000 est.)

Imports $8.7 billion (f.o.b., 2001 est.)

Imports - commodities foodstuffs, petroleum, cotton and fabrics, chemicals and pharmaceuticals

Imports - partners US 60.5%, Japan 10.4%, Mexico 4.7%, Venezuela 3% (2000 est.)

Debt - external $5.4 billion (2001 est.)

Economic aid - recipient $239.6 million (1995)

Currency Dominican peso (DOP)

Currency code DOP

Exchange rates Dominican pesos per US dollar - 17.310 (January 2002), 16.952 (2001), 16.415 (2000), 16.033 (1999), 15.267 (1998), 14.265 (1997)

Fiscal year calendar year

NOTE: The information regarding Dominican Republic on this page is re-published from the 2002 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Dominican Republic Economy 2002 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Dominican Republic Economy 2002 should be addressed to the CIA.