Simple directory > Regional > Barbados

Country : Barbados Official name: Barbados Head of State: Queen Elizabeth II, represented by Governor General Sir Clifford Straughn Husbands (since 1996) Head of government: Prime Minister Owen S Arthur (BLP) (since 1994) Ruling party: Barbados Labour Party (BLP) (since 1994; last re-elected 21 May 2003) Area: 430 square km Population: 270,540 (2004) Capital: Bridgetown Official language: English Currency: Barbados dollar (BD$) = 100 cents Exchange rate: BD$2.00 per US$ (Nov 2004) GDP per capita: US$10,000 (2003) GDP real growth: 1.60% (2003) Labour force: 128,500 (2003) Unemployment: 10.00% (2003) Inflation: 1.50% (2003) Oil production: 1,271 bpd (2003) Balance of trade: -US$760.00 million (2003) Foreign debt: US$692.00 million (2003) Visitor numbers: 531,464 (2003) (long-stay)

Historical profile

Barbados was formerly a British colony.

1951 Universal adult suffrage was introduced. The Barbados Labour Party (BLP) won the general election, and held office until 1961.

1961 Barbados achieved full internal self-government. The Democratic Labour Party (DLP) won the elections.

1966 Barbados gained independence.

1994 The BLP won the election. Owen Arthur became prime minister.

1999 The ruling BLP was re-elected.

2002 Barbados was removed from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD's) blacklist of countries that refused to co-operate with OECD efforts to combat money laundering.

2003 The ruling BLP won the 21 May parliamentary elections.

2004 A new radio service – Radio Caricom, the Voice of the Caribbean Community – was officially launched at the 25th Meeting of the Conference of the Heads of Government in Grenada on 4 July. Barbados is a `pilot state' in the project.

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