Saba: Doing business and staying in touch

Doing Business in Saba

Business is fairly formal and visitors should wear a suit. Appointments should be made and always kept as it is very discourteous to be late.

Office Hours

Mon-Fri 0730-1200 and 1330-1630.

Economy

Economic conditions vary widely between the different islands in the Netherlands Antilles group. Saba relies partly on agriculture, producing sorghum, groundnuts, fruit and vegetables, as well as a modest fishing operation. There is no manufacturing industry other than textiles. Saba has very little of the Netherlands Antilles' recently developed 'offshore' financial services industry; tourism is the most important part of the service sector.

Along with Bonaire and St Eustatius, Saba is a net beneficiary of the Netherlands Antilles central treasury. Saba has associate membership of the European Union, as an overseas territory of The Netherlands, and observer status at the Caribbean trading bloc, CARICOM.

GDP

US$3.3 billion (2005).

Main exports

Petroleum products.

Main imports

Machinery and electrical equipment, crude oil (for refining and re-export), chemicals and food.

Main trading partners

Venezuela, Guatemala, Singapore and USA.

Keeping in Touch in Saba

Mobile Phone

Networks are operated by Windward Islands Cellular and East Caribbean Cellular and roaming agreements exist, so many mobile handsets should work on the island. GSM phones will need to be unlocked before they will work. Most hotels provide long distance dialling worldwide. There are also phone booths in Windwardside and The Bottom.

Internet

There is currently one internet cafe on the island, in Windwardside.

Media

The Saba Herald is published monthly in English.

Post

The post office is in The Bottom. Airmail to Europe takes four to six days, surface mail four to six weeks.