• GDP: US$2.45 billion.
• Main exports: Petroleum products.
• Main imports: Crude petroleum, food and manufactured goods.
• Main trade partners: Venezuela, Mexico, USA, Brazil and Gabon.

During the 1950s, Bonaire began a gradual climb out of chronic economic depression, aided by investment in tourism and the revival of a long-dormant salt industry. The economy gained a further boost in the mid-1970s, when the Bonaire Petroleum Corporation (Bopec) set up an oil transfer depot with a deep-water port, with facilities for transferring oil from ocean-going to coastal tankers. However, plans to build a refinery in Bonaire have been indefinitely shelved. Other economic activities on Bonaire include rice processing and shipping. There is also some agriculture – Bonaire grows a variety of fruit and vegetables; in particular, it is a major producer and exporter of aloes. Bonaire has benefited from the offshore financial industry, which has built up among the island group, although most of the companies engaged in the sector are located on Curaçao and St Maarten. As part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Bonaire is an overseas territory in association with the EU; it also holds observer status at the regional CARICOM trading bloc.

General business practices prevail. Office hours: Mon-Fri 0730-1200 and 1330-1630.

Bonaire Chamber of Commerce and Industry
PO Box 52, Princess Marie-Straat, Kralendijk, Bonaire
Tel: (717) 5595.