Economy of Guam
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Economy - overview: The economy depends mainly on US military spending and on tourist revenue. Over the past 20 years, the tourist industry grew rapidly, creating a construction boom for new hotels, golf courses and other tourist amenities. More than 1 million tourists visit Guam each year including about 900,000 from Japan and 150,000 from Korea. The industry suffered numerous setbacks in the 1990's including numerous super-typhoons, an 8.1 earthquake, and a Korean airline crash. More recently, SARS, the Iraq war and most importantly the Japan economy and acommpanying yen to dollar adjustments have significantly impacted tourism with spending per person in retail and attraction sectors now nearly 50% compared to their peak in the mid-1990s. Nevertheless, as of 2005 tourism is finally starting to stabilize and recover.
Most food and industrial goods are imported. As Guam's tourist economy continues to slowly recover, over $ 1 billion in military spending on the island is projected in the coming several years. The Government of Guam (GovGuam) is the biggest employer on the island (exceeding the tourism industry and the federal military), with a payroll and retirment burden that has led in recent years to an ongoing and growing budget deficit.
GDP: purchasing power parity - $3 billion (1996 est.)
GDP - real growth rate: NA%
GDP - per capita: purchasing power parity - $19,000 (1996 est.)
GDP - composition by sector:
- agriculture: NA%
- industry: NA%
- services: NA%
Population below poverty line: NA%
Household income or consumption by percentage share:
- lowest 10%: NA%
- highest 10%: NA%
Inflation rate (consumer prices): 4% (1992 est.)
Labor force: 65,660 (1995)
Labor force - by occupation: federal and territorial government 31%, private 69% (trade 21%, services 33%, construction 12%, other 3%) (1995)
Unemployment rate: 2% (1992 est.)
Budget:
- revenues: $524.3 million
- expenditures: $361.4 million, including capital expenditures of $NA (1995)
Industries: US military, tourism, construction, transshipment services, concrete products, printing and publishing, food processing, textiles
Industrial production growth rate: NA%
Electricity - production: 800 GWh (1998)
Electricity - production by source:
- fossil fuel: 100%
- hydro: 0%
- nuclear: 0%
- other: 0% (1998)
Electricity - consumption: 744 GWh (1998)
Electricity - exports: 0 kWh (1998)
Electricity - imports: 0 kWh (1998)
Agriculture - products: fruits, copra, vegetables; eggs, pork, poultry, beef
Exports: $86.1 million (f.o.b., 1992)
Exports - commodities: mostly transshipments of refined petroleum products, construction materials, fish, food and beverage products
Exports - partners: United States 25%
Imports: $202.4 million (c.i.f., 1992)
Imports - commodities: petroleum and petroleum products, food, manufactured goods
Imports - partners: United States 23%, Japan 19%, other 58%
Debt - external: $NA
Economic aid - recipient: $NA; note - although Guam receives no foreign aid, it does receive large transfer payments from the general revenues of the US Federal Treasury 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.
Currency: 1 United States dollar (USD) = 100 cents
Exchange rates: US currency is used
Fiscal year: 1 October - 30 September
- See also : Guam