Economy of the Dominican Republic
Economy of the Dominican
Republic
Currency
1 Dominican Peso
(RD$) = 100 Centavos
Fiscal year
Calendar year
Trade
organisations
WTO
Statistics [1]
GDP ranking
68th by volume (at PPP)
(2005);
GDP
$89.87 billion (2007
est.)
GDP growth
10.7% (2006 est.)
GDP per capita $9,208 (2007 est.)
GDP by sector agriculture (11.5%), in-
dustry (28.3% ), ser-
vices (60.2%) (2007
est.)
Inflation
8.2% (2006 est.)
Pop below
poverty line
25% (2006)
Labour force
3.896 million (2006
est.)
Labour force
by occupation
services and govern-
ment 58.7%, industry
24.3%, agriculture 17%
(2006 est.)
Unemployment 15.5% (2007 est.)
Main
industries
tourism, sugar pro-
cessing, ferro nickel
and gold mining, tex-
tiles, cement, tobacco
Trading Partners [2]
Exports
$6.881 billion f.o.b.
(2007 est.)
Main partners U.S. 72.8%, U.K. 3.2%,
Belgium 2.4% (2006)
Imports
$12.89 billion f.o.b.
(2007 est.)
Main Partners U.S. 46.9%,Venezuela
8.4%, Colombia 6.3%,
Mexico 5.7%, (2006)
Public Finances [3]
Public debt
45.6% of GDP (2006)
External debt
$8.634 billion (2006)
Revenues
$5.658 billion (2006)
Expenses
$6.119 billion, (2006)
Economic aid
$571.6 million (FY04
est.)[1][2]
The Dominican Republic, the biggest eco-
nomy in the Caribbean and Central America
is a lower middle-income[3] developing coun-
try primarily dependent on agriculture,
trade, and services, especially tourism. Al-
though the service sector has recently over-
taken agriculture as the leading employer of
Dominicans (due principally to growth in
tourism and Free Trade Zones), agriculture
remains the most important sector in terms
of domestic consumption and is in second
place (behind mining) in terms of export
earnings. Tourism accounts for more than $1
billion in annual earnings. Free Trade Zone
earnings and tourism are the fastest-growing
export sectors. According to a 1999 Interna-
tional Monetary Fund report, remittances
from Dominican Americans, are estimated to
be about $1.5 billion per year. Most of these
funds are used to cover basic household
needs such