(top), white (wavy), and green; the white band
is the thinnest, the red band is the thickest

:Seychelles Economy

Overview:
In this small, open, tropical island economy, the tourist industry employs
about 30% of the labor force and provides more than 70% of hard currency
earnings. In recent years the government has encouraged foreign investment
in order to upgrade hotels and other services. At the same time, the
government has moved to reduce the high dependence on tourism by promoting
the development of farming, fishing, and small-scale manufacturing.
GDP:
exchange rate conversion - $350 million, per capita $5,200; real growth rate
-4.5% (1991 est.)
Inflation rate (consumer prices):
1.8% (1990 est.)
Unemployment rate:
9% (1987)
Budget:
revenues $180 million; expenditures $202 million, including capital
expenditures of $32 million (1989)
Exports:
$40 million (f.o.b., 1990 est.)
commodities:
fish, copra, cinnamon bark, petroleum products (reexports)
partners:
France 63%, Pakistan 12%, Reunion 10%, UK 7% (1987)
Imports:
$186 million (f.o.b., 1990 est.)
commodities:
manufactured goods, food, tobacco, beverages, machinery and transportation
equipment, petroleum products
partners:
UK 20%, France 14%, South Africa 13%, PDRY 13%, Singapore 8%, Japan 6%
(1987)
External debt:
$189 million (1991 est.)
Industrial production:
growth rate 7% (1987); accounts for 10% of GDP
Electricity:
30,000 kW capacity; 80 million kWh produced, 1,160 kWh per capita (1991)
Industries:
tourism, processing of coconut and vanilla, fishing, coir rope factory, boat
building, printing, furniture, beverage
Agriculture:
accounts for 7% of GDP, mostly subsistence farming; cash crops - coconuts,
cinnamon, vanilla; other products - sweet potatoes, cassava, bananas;
broiler chickens; large share of food needs imported; expansion of tuna
fishing under way
Economic aid:
US commitments, including Ex-Im (FY78-89), $26 million; Western (non-US)
countries, ODA and OOF bilateral commitments (1978-89), $315 million; OPEC
bilateral aid (1979-89), $5 million; Communist countries (1970-89), $60
million
Currency:
Seychelles rupee (plural - rupees); 1 Seychelles rupee (SRe) = 100 cents
Exchange rates:
Seychelles rupees (SRe) per US$1 - 5.2946 (March 1992), 5.2893 (1991),
5.3369 (1990), 5.6457 (19