Economy

Coconuts, cinammon, vanilla, sweet potatoes, cassava, and bananas are grown. Tourism has expanded rapidly since the 1970s, and provides the bulk of the country's hard currency earnings. Fishing, agricultural processing, and boat building are the other important industries. Canned tuna, frozen fish, cinnamon bark, copra, and vanilla are exported. Machinery and equipment, foodstuffs, petroleum products, and chemicals are imported. Spain, Great Britain, France, Saudi Arabia, and South Africa are important trading partners.

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2007, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.

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