Economic Overview
The island nation has been able to attract foreign business and investment, especially in its offshore banking and tourism industries, with a surge in foreign direct investment in 2006, attributed to the construction of several tourism projects. tourism is the main source of foreign exchange, with almost 900,000 arrivals in 2007. the manufacturing sector is the most diverse in the eastern caribbean area, and the government is trying to revitalize the banana industry. saint lucia is vulnerable to a variety of external shocks including declines in european union banana preferences, volatile tourism receipts, natural disasters, and dependence on foreign oil. high debt servicing obligations constrain the king administration's ability to respond to adverse external shocks. economic fundamentals remain solid, even though unemployment needs to be reduced.
Environmental Issues
Deforestation; soil erosion, particularly in the northern region
Government Type
Parliamentary democracy
Population
159,585 (july 2008 est.)
Location
Caribbean, island between the caribbean sea and north atlantic ocean, north of trinidad and tobago
Area
Total: 616 sq km
land: 606 sq km
water: 10 sq km
3.5 times the size of washington, dc
Country Aliases
Conventional long form: none
conventional short form: saint lucia
Capital
Name: castries
geographic coordinates: 14 01 n, 61 00 w
time difference: utc-4 (1 hour ahead of washington, dc during standard time)
International Disputes
Joins other caribbean states to counter venezuela's claim that aves island sustains human habitation, a criterion under unclos, which permits venezuela to extend its eez/continental shelf over a large portion of the eastern caribbean sea
Sources: Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)
