Montserrat Investment Guide

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The Economy

General description

The economy of Montserrat is small, very open and is very heavily dependent on imports of merchandise goods.  The population currently stands at just over 5000 declining from approximately 10,500 in 1995.  Prior to 1995 tourism (and in particular residential tourism) and its related services was the mainstay of the economy, contributing on average about 40% of GDP.  Presently Tourism only contributes 15% to GDP.  Over the past three years, however, economic activity has been dominated by Government Services and the Construction Sector.  The combined contribution of these two sectors has averaged some 55% of GDP between 1997 and 1999.


 

SECTORAL CONTRIBUTION OF GDP IN CURRENT PRICES 1997-98

 

(% of GDP)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SECTOR

1997

1998

1999

 

 

 

 

 

 

Agriculture

1.04

1.05

1.22

 

Manufacturing

3.29

0.55

0.62

 

Construction

15.81

21.67

22.47

 

Distributive

7.27

4.76

7.29

 

Transport & Communications

13.24

11.36

13.64

 

Banks & Insurance

5.83

4.54

4.43

 

Government Services

33.66

29.03

23.43

 

Real Estate & Housing

9.83

8.44

9.4

 

Other Services

10.04

7.06

7.57

 

 

 

 

 

 

GDP (in EC$ million)

95.87

84.85

85.52

 

 

 

 

 

 

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