Economy in Cape Verde
Most of the nation's GDP comes from the service industry. Cape Verde's economy has grown since the late 1990s, and it is now considered a country of average development. Cape Verde has significant cooperation with Portugal at every level of the economy, leading it to link its currency first to the Portuguese escudo, and, in 1999, to the euro.
Former Portuguese prime minister José Manuel Durão Barroso, now (second semester 2004) president of the European Commission, has promised to help integrate Cape Verde within the European Union sphere of influence via greater cooperation with Portugal. In March 2005, former Portuguese president Mário Soares launched a petition urging the European Union to start membership talks with Cape Verde.
The country is stable both socially and politically. All political parties are very keen to attract foreign private investment, particularly in the development of the tourism sector.
The exchange rate of the Cape Verde Escudo is fixed to the Euro (1Euro=110,265CVE). Over the last five years, average annual inflation has been contained below 1.4%. GDP per capita is approximately US$1,500 and is growing annually by 6%. The resident population of Cape Verde is approximately 450,000.
The UN Development Programme's Human Development Index (2003) places Cape Verde as fourth highest of all African nations behind only the Seychelles, Mauritius and Tunisia; declaring it a middle-income country.
The islands have been recognized internationally as a country for growth - the International Monetary Fund (IMF), has rated the Cape Verdean economy as "solid" and the World Bank recently announced that Cape Verde was the Best Managed African Economy of the Year.