世界各国

British Virgin Islands

Introduction to British Virgin Islands

First settled by the Dutch in 1648, the islands were annexed in 1672 by the English. The economy is closely tied to the larger and more populous US Virgin Islands to the west; the US dollar is the legal currency.

Government

Capital:

Road Town

National holiday:

Territory Day, 1 July 

Economy

Economy overview:

The economy, one of the most stable and prosperous in the Caribbean, is highly dependent on tourism, generating an estimated 45% of the national income. An estimated 350,000 tourists, mainly from the US, visited the islands in 1998. Tourism suffered in 2002 because of the lackluster US economy. In the mid-1980s, the government began offering offshore registration to companies wishing to incorporate in the islands, and incorporation fees now generate substantial revenues. Roughly 400,000 companies were on the offshore registry by yearend 2000. The adoption of a comprehensive insurance law in late 1994, which provides a blanket of confidentiality with regulated statutory gateways for investigation of criminal offenses, is expected to make the British Virgin Islands even more attractive to international business. Livestock raising is the most important agricultural activity; poor soils limit the islands' ability to meet domestic food requirements. Because of traditionally close links with the US Virgin Islands, the British Virgin Islands has used the dollar as its currency since 1959.

GDP:

purchasing power parity - $320 million (2002 est.)

GDP - composition by sector:

agriculture: 1.8%
industry: 6.2%
services: 92% (1996 est.)

Agriculture products:

fruits, vegetables; livestock, poultry; fish

Industries:

tourism, light industry, construction, rum, concrete block, offshore financial center 

Transportation

Highways:

total: 177 km
paved: 177 km
unpaved: 0 km (2000)

Ports and harbors:

Road Town

Merchant marine:

total: 3 ships (1,000 GRT or over) 83,825 GRT/155,909 DWT
registered in other countries: 32 (2003 est.)
by type: cargo 1, liquefied gas 1, petroleum tanker 1
foreign-owned: Norway 1

Airports:

3 (2003 est.)