United States. Central Intelligence Agency

“ Economy Dominican Republic Economy - overview: The Dominican Republic is a Caribbean representative democracy which enjoyed GDP growth of more than 7% in 1998-2000. Growth subsequently plummeted as part of the global economic slowdown. Although the country has long been viewed primarily as an exporter of sugar, coffee, and tobacco, in recent years the service sector has overtaken agriculture as the economy's largest employer, due to growth in tourism and free trade zones. The country suffers from marked income inequality ”

“ Growth turned negative in 2003 with reduced tourism, a major bank fraud, and limited growth in the US economy, the source of 87% of export revenues. Resumption of a badly needed IMF loan was slowed due to government repurchase of electrical power plants. GDP: purchasing power parity - $52.71 billion (2003 est.) GDP - real growth rate: -0.7% (2003 est.) ”

“ Investment (gross fixed) : 19.9% of GDP (2003) Population below poverty line: 25% Household income or consumption by percentage share: lowest 10%: 2.1%
highest 10%: 37.9% (1998) Distribution of family income - Gini index: 47.4 (1998) Inflation rate (consumer prices) : 27.5% (2003 est.) Labor force: 2.3 million - 2.6 million (2000 est.) Labor force - by occupation: agriculture 17%, industry 24.3%, services and government 58.7% (1998 est.) Unemployment rate: 16.5% (2003 est.) ”