Economy of Jersey

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Economy - overview:

The economy of Jersey is based largely on international financial services, agriculture, and tourism. Potatoes, cauliflower, tomatoes, and especially flowers are important export crops, shipped mostly to the United Kingdom. The Jersey breed of dairy cattle is known worldwide and represents an important export income earner. Milk products go to the UK and other EU countries. In 1996 the finance sector accounted for about 60% of the island's output. Tourism accounts for 24% of GDP. In recent years, the government encouraged light industry to locate in Jersey, with the result that an electronics industry developed alongside the traditional manufacturing of knitwear. All raw material and energy requirements are imported, as well as a large share of Jersey's food needs. Preferential taxes and absence of death duties make the island a popular offshore finance centre.

GDP: purchasing power parity - $3,6 billion (2003 est.)

GDP - real growth rate: NA%

GDP - per capita: purchasing power parity - $40 000 (2003 est.)

GDP - composition by sector:
agriculture: 5%
industry: 2%
services: 93% (1996)

Population below poverty line: NA%

Household income or consumption by percentage share:
lowest 10%: NA%
highest 10%: NA%

Inflation rate (consumer prices):

5,3% (2004)
2.2% (2005)

Labour force: 52 790 (2004)

Unemployment rate: 0,9% (2004 est.)

Budget:
revenues: $601 million

£441 million (2004)

expenditures:

$588 million, including capital expenditures of $98 million (2000 est.)
£460 million (2004)

Industries: tourism, banking and finance, dairy

Industrial production growth rate: NA%

Electricity - consumption: 630,1 GWh (2004 estimate)

Electricity - exports: 0 kWh (1998)

Electricity - imports: NA kWh; note - electricity supplied by France

Agriculture - products: potatoes (especially Jersey Royal potatoes, cauliflower, tomatoes; beef, dairy products

Until the 19th century, cider was the largest agricultural export with up to a quarter of the agricultural land given over to orchards. In 1839, for example, 268,199 gallons of cider were exported from Jersey to England alone,^[1] but by 1870 exports from Jersey had slumped to 4,632 gallons^[2]. Beer had replaced cider as a fashionable drink in the main export markets, and even the home market had switched to beer as the population became more urban. Potatoes overtook cider as the most important crop in Jersey in the 1840s. Small-scale cider production on farms for domestic consumption, particularly by seasonal workers from Brittany and mainland Normandy, was maintained, but by the mid-20th century production dwindled until only 8 farms were producing cider for their own consumption in 1983^[3]. The number of orchards had been reduced to such a level that the destruction of trees in the Great Storm of 1987 demonstrated how close the Islands had come to losing many of its traditional cider apple varieties. A concerted effort was made to identify and preserve surviving varieties and new orchards were planted. As part of diversification, farmers have moved into commercial cider production, and the cider tradition is celebrated and marketed as a heritage experience.

Exports: $NA

Exports - commodities: light industrial and electrical goods, foodstuffs, textiles

Exports - partners: UK

Imports: $NA

Imports - commodities: machinery and transport equipment, manufactured goods, foodstuffs, mineral fuels, chemicals

Imports - partners: UK

Debt - external: none

Economic aid - recipient: none

Currency: British pound (GBP). Also the Jersey pound (= 100 pence)

Exchange rates: Jersey pounds per US dollar - 0,55 (2005), 0.6981 (January 2002), 0.6944 (2001), 0.6596 (2000), 0.6180 (1999), 0.6037 (1998), 0.6106 (1997); the Jersey pound is at par with the British pound

Fiscal year: 1 January - 31 December