Economy
Traditionally the city's economy had depended almost entirely on the sugar cane industry. Since around the 1950s, however, the town's economy has diversified and today its economy revolves around a mixed-industry manufacturing sector, retail, and tourism. The building of a mega port, anticipated to be completed in 2012, is expected to add significantly to the area's economy. Agriculture, retail, and services are also significant players in the local economy. "It is an agricultural, trade, and distribution center. Industries include tourism, the processing of agricultural products, rum distilling, canning, and diamond cutting. Manufactures include textiles, shoes, cement, paper, electrical devices, and metal products." The city, though, suffers from an unemployment rate that hovers around the 15 percent mark.
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Famous quotes containing the word economy:
“Everyone is always in favour of general economy and particular expenditure.”
—Anthony, Sir Eden (1897–1977)
“The basis of political economy is non-interference. The only safe rule is found in the self-adjusting meter of demand and supply. Do not legislate. Meddle, and you snap the sinews with your sumptuary laws.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“Even the poor student studies and is taught only political economy, while that economy of living which is synonymous with philosophy is not even sincerely professed in our colleges. The consequence is, that while he is reading Adam Smith, Ricardo, and Say, he runs his father in debt irretrievably.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)