Economy - overview: With no direct taxation, the Cayman Islands are a thriving offshore financial center. More than 40,000 companies were registered in the islands as of 2000, including almost 600 banks and trust companies; banking assets exceed $500 billion. The Cayman Islands Stock Exchange was opened in 1997. Large corporations based in the Cayman Islands include Seagate Technology, Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC), Garmin Ltd. and Transocean Inc. The term direct tax has more than one meaning: a colloquial meaning and, in the United States, a constitutional law meaning. ... A bank is an institution that provides financial service, particularly taking deposits and extending credit. ... A trust company has been referred to as a near-bank; while technically it differs from a bank in mandate and services offered, it also provides banking services such as chequing accounts, savings and loans, investments and credit cards. ... The Cayman Islands Stock Exchange (CSX) is a stock exchange based in Grand Cayman on the Cayman Islands. ... Seagate Technology NYSE: STX is a major manufacturer of hard drives, founded in 1979 and based in Scotts Valley, California. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Garmin Ltd. ... Transocean Inc. ...

Tourism is also a mainstay, accounting for about 70% of GDP and 75% of foreign currency earnings. The tourist industry is aimed at the luxury market and caters mainly to visitors from North America. Unspoiled beaches, duty-free shopping, scuba diving, and deep-sea fishing draw almost a million visitors to the islands each year. About 90% of the islands' food and consumer goods must be imported. The Caymanians enjoy one of the highest outputs per capita and one of the highest standards of living in the world. More than 3 million tourists visited the Taj Mahal in Agra, India in 2004. ... World map showing North America A satellite composite image of North America. ... This article is about a tax measure. ... Scuba divers. ...

From the earliest settlement of the Cayman Islands, economic activity was hindered by isolation and a limited natural resource base. The harvesting of sea turtles to resupply passing sailing ships was the first major economic activity on the islands, but local stocks were depleted by the 1790s. Agriculture, while sufficient to support the small early settler population, has always been limited by the scarcity of available land. The islands have few natural fresh water resources: desalination of sea water is used to solve this. Genera Family Cheloniidae (Oppel, 1811) Caretta Lepidochelys Chelonia Eretmochelys Natator Family Dermochelyidae Family Protostegidae (extinct) Family Toxochelyidae (extinct) Family Thalassemyidae (extinct) Sea turtles (Chelonioidea) are turtles found in all the worlds oceans with the exception of the Arctic Ocean, and some species travel between oceans. ... Desalination or desalinization refers to any of several processes that remove the excess salt and other minerals from water in order to obtain fresh water suitable for animal consumption or irrigation, and if almost all of the salt is removed, for human consumption, sometimes producing table salt as a by...

The advent of modern transportation and telecommunications in the 1950s led to the emergence of what are now considered the Cayman Islands' "twin pillars" of economic development: international finance and tourism. The Cayman Islands Investment Bureau is a Government agency established with the mandate of promoting investment and economic development in the Cayman Islands.

Education is compulsory to the age of 16 and is free to all Caymanian children. Most schools follow the British educational system. Ten primary, one special education, a high school and a middle school ('junior high school') are operated by the government, along with three private high schools. In addition, there is a law school, a university-college and a medical school.

GDP: purchasing power parity - $1.391 billion (2004 est.)

GDP - real growth rate: 1.7% (2005 est.)

GDP - per capita: purchasing power parity - $32,300 (1997 est.)

GDP - composition by sector:
agriculture: 1.4%
industry: 3.2%
services: 95.4% (1994 est.)

Population below poverty line: NA%

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

Inflation rate (consumer prices): 2.8% (2002)

Labor force: 19,820 (1995)

Labor force - by occupation: agriculture 1.4%, industry 12.6%, services 86% (1995)

Unemployment rate: 4.1% (1997)

Budget:
revenues: $265.2 million
expenditures: $248.9 million, including capital expenditures of $NA (1997)

Industries: tourism, banking, insurance and finance, construction, construction materials, furniture Furniture is the collective term for the movable objects which support the human body (seating furniture and beds), provide storage, and hold objects on horizontal surfaces above the ground. ...

Industrial production growth rate: NA%

Electricity - production: 290 GWh (1998)

Electricity - production by source:
fossil fuel: 100%
hydro: 0%
nuclear: 0%
other: 0% (1998)

Electricity - consumption: 270 GWh (1998)

Electricity - exports: 0 kWh (1998)

Electricity - imports: 0 kWh (1998)

Agriculture - products: vegetables, fruit; livestock, turtle farming Vegetables in a market Venn diagram representing the relationship between (botanical) fruits and vegetables. ... Fruit stall in Barcelona, Catalonia. ... Sheep are commonly bred as livestock. ... Suborders Cryptodira Pleurodira See text for families. ...

Exports: $2.17 million (1997)

Exports - commodities: turtle products, manufactured consumer goods

Exports - partners: mostly US

Imports: $457 million (1999)

Imports - commodities: foodstuffs, manufactured goods

Imports - partners: US, Trinidad and Tobago, UK, Netherlands Antilles, Japan

Debt - external: $70 million (1996)

Economic aid - recipient: $NA

Currency: 1 Caymanian dollar (CI$) = 100 cents

Exchange rates: Caymanian dollars (CI$) per US$1 - 0.83 (3 November 1995), 0.85 (22 November 1993) November 3 is the 307th day of the year (308th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 58 days remaining. ... 1995 (MCMXCV) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... November 22 is the 326th day (327th on leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1993 (MCMXCIII) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar and marked the Beginning of the International Decade to Combat Racism and Racial Discrimination (1993-2003). ...

Fiscal year: 1 April–31 March April 1 is the 91st day of the year (92nd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar, with 274 days remaining. ... March 31 is the 90th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (91st in Leap years), with 275 days remaining. ...

See also : Cayman Islands