DC 20036; telephone
(202) 467-6490; Trinidad and Tobago has a Consulate General in New York;
US--Ambassador Charles A. GARGANO; Embassy at 15 Queen's Park West,
Port-of-Spain (mailing address is P. O. Box 752, Port-of-Spain);
telephone p809o 622-6372 or 6376, 6176

Flag: red with a white-edged black diagonal band from the upper hoist side

- Economy
Overview: Trinidad and Tobago's petroleum-based economy has been in
decline since 1982. During the first half of the 1980s, the petroleum sector
accounted for nearly 80% of export earnings, 40% of government revenues,
and almost 25% of GDP. In recent years, however, the economy has suffered
because of the sharp fall in the price of oil. The government, in response to
the revenue loss, pursued a series of austerity measures that pushed the
unemployment rate to 22% in 1988. Agriculture employs only about 11% of
the labor force and produces less than 3% of GDP. Since this sector is small, it
has been unable to absorb the large numbers of the unemployed. The
government currently seeks to diversify its export base.

GDP: $3.75 billion, per capita $3,070; real growth rate - 2.0% (1988 est.)

Inflation rate (consumer prices): 15.0% (1989 est.)

Unemployment rate: 22% (1988)

Budget: revenues $1.4 billion; expenditures $2.1 billion,
including capital expenditures of $430 million (1988 est.)

Exports: $1.4 billion (f.o.b., 1987); commodities--includes
reexports--petroleum and petroleum products 70%, fertilizer, chemicals
15%, steel products, sugar, cocoa, coffee, citrus (1987);
partners--US 61%, EC 15%, CARICOM 9%, Latin America 7%, Canada 3%
(1986)

Imports: $1.2 billion (c.i.f., 1987); commodities--raw materials
41%, capital goods 30%, consumer goods 29% (1986);
partners--US 42%, EC 21%, Japan 10%, Canada 6%, Latin America 6%,
CARICOM 4% (1986)

External debt: $2.02 billion (December 1987)

Industrial production: growth rate 5.2%, excluding oil refining (1986)

Electricity: 1,176,000 kW capacity; 3,350 million kWh produced,
2,700 kWh per capita (1989)

Industries: petroleum, chemicals, tourism, food processing, cement,
beverage, cotton textiles

Agriculture: accounts for about 3% of GDP and 4% of labor force;
highly subsidized sector; major crops--cocoa and sugarcane; sugarcane
acreage is being shifted into rice, citrus, coffee, vegetables;
must import large share of food needs

Aid: US commitments, including Ex-Im (FY70-85), $370 million; Western
(non-US) countr