St Vincent and the Grenadines: Doing business and staying in touch

Doing Business in St Vincent and the Grenadines

Short- or long-sleeved shirt and tie are suitable for most business visits.

Office Hours

Government office hours: These vary from department to department but generally Mon-Fri 0800-1615, with some opening for a few hours Saturday morning.

Economy

St Vincent and the Grenadines is poor by Eastern Caribbean standards, with agriculture the main source of income and export earnings. Bananas are the main crop, but St Vincent is also the world's leading producer of arrowroot and grows other exotic fruit, vegetables and root crops. Fishing has also been revitalised and a processing complex has been built with Japanese assistance. Agriculture is especially vulnerable to the unpredictable, often adverse weather patterns of the Caribbean.

Tourism is the other main component of the economy. By regional standards, this was relatively late to evolve and was initially hampered by the lack of a suitable infrastructure. This was addressed with the help of aid from the European Union and the industry is now growing rapidly: the most recent figures record its contribution to the economy at US$90 million. A small manufacturing sector and an embryonic 'offshore' financial services industry complete the country's economic inventory.
For information, contact the St Vincent and the Grenadines Tourist Office (see Contact Addresses).

GDP

US$632 million (2009).

Main exports

Bananas, eddoes and dasheen (taro), arrowroot starch and tennis rackets.

Main imports

Food, machinery and equipment, chemicals and fertilisers, minerals and fuels.

Main trading partners

EU, Barbados, St Lucia and Trinidad and Tobago.

Keeping in Touch in St Vincent and the Grenadines

Mobile Phone

North American mobile phones work on all the islands. Network coverage is good.

Internet

Available in Internet cafés and hotels.

Media

All newspapers are in English and most are published weekly.
The most popular papers are The News, Searchlight and The Vincentian.
SVG Television is operated by St Vincent and the Grenadines Broadcasting Corporation.nNBC Radio is a partly government-funded national station.

Post

Airmail to Western Europe takes up to two weeks.

Mon-Fri 0830-1500, Sat 0830-1130.