Singapore
Singapore has a highly developed and successful
free-market economy. It enjoys a remarkably open and corruption-free
environment, stable prices, and a per capita GDP higher than that of
most developed countries. The economy depends heavily on exports,
particularly in consumer electronics, information technology
products, pharmaceuticals, and on a growing financial services
sector. Real GDP growth averaged 6.9% between 2004 and 2008. The
economy contracted 1.3% in 2009 as a result of the global financial
crisis, but rebounded nearly 15% in 2010, on the strength of renewed
exports. Over the longer term, the government hopes to establish a
new growth path that focuses on raising productivity growth, which
has sunk to 1% per year in the last decade. Singapore has attracted
major investments in pharmaceuticals and medical technology
production and will continue efforts to establish Singapore as
Southeast Asia's financial and high-tech hub.
Sint Maarten
The economy of Sint Maarten centers around tourism with
nearly four-fifths of the labor force engaged in this sector. Over
one million visitors come to the island each year - 1.3 million in
2008 - with most arriving through the Princess Juliana International
Airport. Cruise ships and yachts also call on Sint Maarten's
numerous ports and harbors. No significant agriculture and limited
local fishing means that almost all food must be imported. Energy
resources and manufactured goods are also imported. Sint Maarten had
the highest per capita income among the five islands that formerly
comprised the Netherlands Antilles.
Slovakia
Slovakia has made significant economic reforms since its
separation from the Czech Republic in 1993. Reforms to the taxation,
healthcare, pension, and social welfare systems helped Slovakia to
consolidate its budget and get on track to join the EU in 2004 and
to adopt the euro in January 2009. Major privatizations are nearly
complete, the banking sector is almost entirely in foreign hands,
and the government has helped facilitate a foreign investment boom
with business friendly policies such as labor market liberalization
and a 19% flat tax. Foreign investment in the automotive and
electronic sectors has been strong. Slovakia's economic growth
exceeded expectations in 2001-08 despite the general European
slowdown. Unemployment, at an unacceptable 18% in 2003-04, dropped
to 7.7% in 2008 but remains the economy's Achilles heel. FICO's
cabinet was careful to keep a lid on spending in order to meet euro
adoption criteria and has focused on regulating energy and food
prices instead. To maintain a stable operating environment for
investors, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development
advised the Slovak government to refrain from intervening in
important sectors of the economy. However, Bratislava's approach to
mitigating the economic slowdown has included substantial government
intervention and the option to nationalize strategic companies.
Slovakia was admitted to the euro zone in January 2009. RADICOVA's
government, in power since July 2010, has allowed the budget deficit
to rise slightly, to 8.2% of GDP in 2010. GDP fell nearly 5% in 2009
before gaining back 4% in 2010, and unemployment rose above 12% in
2010, as the global recession impacted many segments of the economy.
Slovenia
Slovenia became the first 2004 European Union entrant to
adopt the euro (on 1 January 2007) and has become a model of
economic success and stability for the region. With the highest per
capita GDP in Central Europe, Slovenia has excellent infrastructure,
a well-educated work force, and a strategic location between the
Balkans and Western Europe. Privatization has lagged since 2002, and
the economy has one of highest levels of state control in the EU.
Structural reforms to improve the business environment have allowed
for somewhat greater foreign participation in Slovenia's economy and
have helped to lower unemployment. In March 2004, Slovenia became
the first transition country to graduate from borrower status to
donor partner at the World Bank. In December 2007, Slovenia was
invited to begin the accession process for joining the OECD. Despite
its economic success, foreign direct investment (FDI) in Slovenia
has lagged behind the region average, and taxes remain relatively
high. Furthermore, the labor market is often seen as inflexible, and
legacy industries are losing sales to more competitive firms in
China, India, and elsewhere. In 2009, the world recession caused the
economy to contract - through falling exports and industrial
production - by more than 8%, and unemployment to rise above 9%.
Although growth resumed in 2010, the unemployment rate continued to
rise, topping 10%.
Solomon Islands
The bulk of the population depends on agriculture,
fishing, and forestry for at least part of its livelihood. Most
manufactured goods and petroleum products must be imported. The
islands are rich in undeveloped mineral resources such as lead,
zinc, nickel, and gold. Prior to the arrival of RAMSI, severe ethnic
violence, the closing of key businesses, and an empty government
treasury culminated in economic collapse. RAMSI's efforts to restore
law and order and economic stability have led to modest growth as
the economy rebuilds.
Somalia
Despite the lack of effective national governance, Somalia
has maintained a healthy informal economy, largely based on
livestock, remittance/money transfer companies, and
telecommunications. Agriculture is the most important sector with
livestock normally accounting for about 40% of GDP and more than 50%
of export earnings. Nomads and semi-pastoralists, who are dependent
upon livestock for their livelihood, make up a large portion of the
population. Livestock, hides, fish, charcoal, and bananas are
Somalia's principal exports, while sugar, sorghum, corn, qat, and
machined goods are the principal imports. Somalia's small industrial
sector, based on the processing of agricultural products, has
largely been looted and the machinery sold as scrap metal. Somalia's
service sector also has grown. Telecommunication firms provide
wireless services in most major cities and offer the lowest
international call rates on the continent. In the absence of a
formal banking sector, money transfer/remittance services have
sprouted throughout the country, handling up to $1.6 billion in
remittances annually. Mogadishu's main market offers a variety of
goods from food to the newest electronic gadgets. Hotels continue to
operate and are supported with private-security militias. Due to
armed attacks on and threats to humanitarian aid workers, the World
Food Programme partially suspended its operations in southern
Somalia in early January 2010 pending improvement in the security
situation. Somalia's arrears to the IMF have continued to grow.
South Africa
South Africa is a middle-income, emerging market with
an abundant supply of natural resources; well-developed financial,
legal, communications, energy, and transport sectors; a stock
exchange that is the 18th largest in the world; and modern
infrastructure supporting a relatively efficient distribution of
goods to major urban centers throughout the region. At the end of
2007, South Africa began to experience an electricity crisis. State
power supplier Eskom encountered problems with aged plants,
necessitating "load-shedding" cuts to residents and businesses in
the major cities. Growth was robust from 2004 to 2007 as South
Africa reaped the benefits of macroeconomic stability and a global
commodities boom, but began to slow in the second half of 2007 due
to the electricity crisis and the subsequent global financial
crisis' impact on commodity prices and demand. GDP fell nearly 2% in
2009. Unemployment remains high and outdated infrastructure has
constrained growth. Daunting economic problems remain from the
apartheid era - especially poverty, lack of economic empowerment
among the disadvantaged groups, and a shortage of public
transportation. South Africa's former economic policy was fiscally
conservative, focusing on controlling inflation, and attaining a
budget surplus. The current government largely follows the same
prudent policies, but must contend with the impact of the global
crisis and is facing growing pressure from special interest groups
to use state-owned enterprises to deliver basic services to
low-income areas and to increase job growth. More than one-quarter
of South Africa's population currently receives social grants.
South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands Some fishing takes place in adjacent waters. There is a potential source of income from harvesting finfish and krill. The islands receive income from postage stamps produced in the UK, sale of fishing licenses, and harbor and landing fees from tourist vessels. Tourism from specialized cruise ships is increasing rapidly.
Southern Ocean
Fisheries in 2006-07 landed 126,976 metric tons, of
which 82% (104,586 tons) was krill (Euphausia superba) and 9.5%
(12,027 tons) Patagonian toothfish (Dissostichus eleginoides - also
known as Chilean sea bass), compared to 127,910 tons in 2005-06 of
which 83% (106,591 tons) was krill and 9.7% (12,396 tons) Patagonian
toothfish (estimated fishing from the area covered by the Convention
of the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR),
which extends slightly beyond the Southern Ocean area).
International agreements were adopted in late 1999 to reduce
illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing, which in the 2000-01
season landed, by one estimate, 8,376 metric tons of Patagonian and
Antarctic toothfish. In the 2007-08 Antarctic summer, 45,213
tourists visited the Southern Ocean, compared to 35,552 in
2006-2007, and 29,799 in 2005-2006 (estimates provided to the
Antarctic Treaty by the International Association of Antarctica Tour
Operators (IAATO), and does not include passengers on overflights
and those flying directly in and out of Antarctica).
Spain
Spain's mixed capitalist economy is the 12th largest in the
world, and its per capita income roughly matches that of Germany and
France. However, after almost 15 years of above average GDP growth,
the Spanish economy began to slow in late 2007 and entered into a
recession in the second quarter of 2008. GDP contracted by 3.7% in
2009, ending a 16-year growth trend, and by another 0.4% in 2010,
making Spain the last major economy to emerge from the global
recession. The reversal in Spain's economic growth reflects a
significant decline in the construction sector, an oversupply of
housing, falling consumer spending, and slumping exports. Government
efforts to boost the economy through stimulus spending, extended
unemployment benefits, and loan guarantees did not prevent a sharp
rise in the unemployment rate, which rose from a low of about 8% in
2007 to 20% in 2010. The government budget deficit worsened from
3.8% of GDP in 2008 to about 9.7% of GDP in 2010, more than three
times the euro-zone limit. Spain's large budget deficit and poor
economic growth prospects have made it vulnerable to financial
contagion from other highly-indebted euro zone members despite the
government's efforts to cut spending, privatize industries, and
boost competitiveness through labor market reforms. Spanish banks'
high exposure to the collapsed domestic construction and real estate
market also poses a continued risk for the sector. The government
intervened in one regional savings bank in 2009, and investors
remain concerned that Madrid may need to bail out more troubled
banks. The Bank of Spain, however, is seeking to boost confidence in
the financial sector by pressuring banks to come clean about their
losses and consolidate into stronger groups.