Guam Economy - 2005

Economy - overview:
The economy depends on US military spending, tourism, and the export of fish and handicrafts. Total US grants, wage payments, and procurement outlays amounted to $1 billion in 1998. Over the past 20 years, the tourist industry has grown rapidly, creating a construction boom for new hotels and the expansion of older ones. More than 1 million tourists visit Guam each year. The industry had recently suffered setbacks because of the continuing Japanese slowdown; the Japanese normally make up almost 90% of the tourists. Most food and industrial goods are imported. Guam faces the problem of building up the civilian economic sector to offset the impact of military downsizing.

GDP:
purchasing power parity - $3.2 billion (2000 est.)

GDP - real growth rate:
NA

GDP - per capita:
purchasing power parity - $21,000 (2000 est.)

GDP - composition by sector:
agriculture: 7%
industry: 15%
services: 78% (2002 est.)

Labor force:
60,000 (2000 est.)

Labor force - by occupation:
private 74% (industry 10%, trade 24%, other services 40%), federal and territorial government 26% (2000 est.)

Unemployment rate:
15% (2000 est.)

Population below poverty line:
23% (2001 est.)

Household income or consumption by percentage share:
lowest 10%: NA
highest 10%: NA

Inflation rate (consumer prices):
0% (1999 est.)

Budget:
revenues: $340 million
expenditures: $445 million, including capital expenditures of NA (2000 est.)

Agriculture - products:
fruits, copra, vegetables; eggs, pork, poultry, beef

Industries:
US military, tourism, construction, transshipment services, concrete products, printing and publishing, food processing, textiles

Industrial production growth rate:
NA

Electricity - production:
835 million kWh (2002)

Electricity - consumption:
776.6 million kWh (2002)

Electricity - exports:
0 kWh (2002)

Electricity - imports:
0 kWh (2002)

Oil - production:
0 bbl/day (2001 est.)

Oil - consumption:
20,000 bbl/day (2001 est.)

Oil - exports:
NA

Oil - imports:
NA

Exports:
$38 million f.o.b. (2002 est.)

Exports - commodities:
mostly transshipments of refined petroleum products; construction materials, fish, food and beverage products

Exports - partners:
Japan 55.4%, South Korea 27.3%, Singapore 7.1% (2004)

Imports:
$462 million f.o.b. (2002 est.)

Imports - commodities:
petroleum and petroleum products, food, manufactured goods

Imports - partners:
Singapore 43%, Japan 20.6%, South Korea 16%, Hong Kong 9.8% (2004)

Debt - external:
NA

Economic aid - recipient:
Guam receives large transfer payments from the US Federal Treasury ($143 million in 1997) into which Guamanians pay no income or excise taxes; under the provisions of a special law of Congress, the Guam Treasury, rather than the US Treasury, receives federal income taxes paid by military and civilian Federal employees stationed in Guam (2001 est.)

Currency (code):
US dollar (USD)

Exchange rates:
the US dollar is used